


Will You Remember Me?

by FreeSpiritSeeker



Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-31
Updated: 2017-04-07
Packaged: 2018-09-13 16:05:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 45,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9131629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FreeSpiritSeeker/pseuds/FreeSpiritSeeker
Summary: After waking from a coma, Clara Gilbert has to relearn all about herself. Add in a sexy devil of a vampire, adventures, more sexy vampires and more insanity, and Clara begins to wonder if she ever really knew herself at all.





	1. Awakening

I woke to the steady "beep-beep-beep" of a nearby machine. I opened eyes that felt too heavy, taking a quick look around the room. Everything was stark white, the walls, the ceiling, even the bedding. I turned my head and saw a machine that seemed to be monitoring my heart rate, breathing and blood pressure. Beside it, an IV stand holding a large bag of clear fluid steadily dripped into the line connected to my hand. 

"He-hello?" I tried to speak, but it came out as a weak whisper. My throat seemed dry as a desert and I coughed harshly. My fingertips found a small oval remote, with a red button at the top. I pressed the button and within a few moments, the door opened and a nurse stood in the doorway. The nurse gasped and rushed over to check me over. "You're awake!" the nurse said softly and I could only stare at her. 

"Water?" I pleaded with her in a whisper. She nodded and placed a straw against my lips. I eagerly sucked, pulling in a mouthful of icy-cold liquid. I swallowed it, moaning softly as it relieved the dryness of my throat and landed with a chill in the pit of my stomach. I cleared my throat as the woman checked my vital signs. "Where am I?" I asked, my voice still incredibly weak.

"You're at Mystic Falls General, Miss Gilbert. You were in a car accident with your sister and your parents." she said softly. 

My mind whirred. Mystic Falls? Gilbert? None of that sounded familiar. 

"Miss Gilbert?" the nurse said, gaining my attention. 

"Yes?" I rasped out. 

"I'm going to get the doctor now, and call your family," she said. I nodded my assent and she left the room. She returned with an older man, with graying hair and bright blue eyes and a pleasant smile. 

"Hello, Miss Gilbert. My name is Doctor Wendell," he said, holding his hand out to shake.

"Hello Doctor Wendell," I replied, taking his hand and shaking it. 

"Well, you are quite the lucky young lady, Miss Gilbert. You've been in a coma since the night of the accident. That was four months ago," Dr. Wendell explained. "You had some rather severe head trauma when you came in, but you've healed beyond what we expected. There was really no medical reason that you should have stayed in a coma for this long, but then again, the human body is still a mystery. I'm happy to say that you seem to have no remaining damage to your skull or your brain. You had some initial swelling of the brain, which caused a few seizures, but once the swelling was reduced, the seizures seemed to dissipate as well. You've lost about twenty-five pounds that you honestly didn't need to lose. I think that with some healthy protein buildup, you can regain that quickly. It is my opinion that at this time you are ready to be released after some physical therapy to strengthen your body again. That shouldn't take any time at all. In fact, I believe you'll be ready to go when school starts up again in a few weeks."

"Doctor Wendell? There is one small thing, though. I can't remember," I told him.

He blinked for a second. "What do you mean, Miss Gilbert?"

"I mean I can't remember anything. I didn't know my last name was Gilbert until the nurse called me that. I honestly don't even know what my first name is. Who my family is. I don't remember a car accident. I don't remember if I have friends, or who they are. I didn't know I had a sister until Nurse Holt said I did. I simply DO. NOT. REMEMBER!" I cried, tears flooding my eyes.


	2. Family Re-Introductions

The doctor's eyes went wide. He placed a hand on my shoulder trying to sooth me. "Calm down, please, Miss Gilbert. I'm going to call in a few of my colleagues. We will try and figure out what is going on." And with that, he left the room, along with Nurse Holt, after she'd once again checked my vitals. 

I sat and waited, fidgeting and wishing this was all some sort of nightmare. Suddenly there was a disturbance in the hall. I could hear muffled shouting getting closer and I could make out the last sentence as, "I don't care what you say. She is my sister, she will remember me, now let me through, I want to see her!" and the shrieking of Nurse Holt before my door slammed open and a young woman stood in the doorway. 

I shrank back in my bed as she walked towards me. She was rather pretty with long dark hair to mid-back, a small, but worried, smile on her face and she looked at me with big doe eyes that seemed to search my face for any sign of recognition. "Clara?"

My eyes opened wide in surprise. "Is that my name? Clara?" I asked. "No one else would tell me, they just kept calling me Miss Gilbert. Clara." I repeated the name again and again to myself. It sounded right. "My name is Clara Gilbert," I said aloud. 

The other girl nodded. "Yes, it is. And I'm Elena Gilbert, your older sister. We have a younger brother named Jeremy, and we live with our Aunt Jenna." Suddenly her eyes filled with tears. 

I frowned. "What? What's wrong, Elena?" I asked.

"You're in the hospital because of me, Clara. You've been in a coma for four months because I was selfish. It was my fault that we were in the car accident. It's my fault that Mom and Dad are dead," she whispered.

I gripped her hand in mine and pulled her into my arms, wincing as it tugged on my IV. I let her cry against me, my arms wrapped lightly around her, as she explained about how she'd gone to a party instead of spending family night at home, how she'd broken up with her boyfriend Matt and called for Mom and Dad to come get her, how I'd decided to come with them to comfort her about the break up on the way home, and how our car had crashed on Wickery Bridge. I rocked her gently, trying not to incur the dizziness that had plagued me when I first opened my eyes. I shushed her quietly as we rocked. I looked up at the sound of the door opening to come face to face with a young boy with dark brown hair. His eyes held a lot of pain, and a lot of anger, which was plain on his face in the form of a dark scowl. When I looked to him, his eyes softened for a moment, and his voice came out ragged as he whispered my name.

"Hi Jeremy," I said softly, catching Elena's attention and letting her know that we weren't alone any longer. She wiped away her tears and sniffled, sitting up on the edge of the bed.

Another person came through the door, a pretty woman, I'd guess about mid-twenties with beautiful red hair. "Clara!" she cried, hurrying towards me and enveloping me in a hug. I smiled into her embrace, she smelled of soap and some type of sweet perfume. 

"A-are you Jenna?" I asked, my voice soft and unsure. She looked perplexed for a moment before turning to Elena. 

Elena answered my question first with, "Yes, she's Jenna, Clara." 

She then turned back to Jenna. "The doctor says that there's possibly some minor brain damage that has caused amnesia. Clara doesn't remember anything about her life before the she woke up a few hours ago. She didn't even remember her own name," Elena explained, her eyes filling with tears again.

"What? She doesn't remember us?" Jeremy's voice rang out, tinged with anger and fear. 

I looked at him mournfully and shook my head. "Nothing, Jeremy. Not even my own name." I turned back to look at all of them. "How old am I? When's my birthday? What's my favorite subject in school? What's my favorite color? I don't remember any of it!" I exclaimed, bringing my hands to my face to cover it as my tears began again.

This time it was Jenna who came to my rescue, wrapping her arms around me as she slid into the bed behind me, propping up my back as she slid her hands up and down my arms in soothing movements. "You're sixteen, your birthday is December 28th, your favorite subject is history despite your horrible teacher Mr. Tanner-your words, not mine-, and your favorite color is green, closely followed by purple and blue," she answer quietly. "I'm your Aunt Jenna, your mother Miranda's sister. I'm a psychology major and your favorite aunt," she said, winking at me. I smiled back.

She pointed at Elena. "This is your sister Elena. She's seventeen. She loves to write in her diary, which you gave her for her birthday last year. You two are extremely close and would die for each other." I nodded, something inside me just agreed that this was the truth.

Jenna then pointed at Jeremy. "This is you brother Jeremy. You were so excited when you found out you were getting a baby brother. You were constantly following you mother around to make sure that "your" baby was alright. You would fetch his bottle and pacifier for him whenever he'd start crying. You're the only person who's always been able to make him smile no matter what mood he's in. You're terrified of storms, and more often than not, when it storms at night, we'd find you the next morning curled up in bed beside him using him as your own personal teddy bear. I've never seen a brother and sister closer than the two of you," she finished. 

I smiled at Jeremy and reached out a hand, smiling when he took it and sat down next to me on the other side of the bed so that I was surrounded: Jenna behind me, propping me up, Jeremy on my right, Elena on my left. I didn't realize I was crying until Jeremy reached up and wiped away a tear. "It'll be ok, Clara. You always tried to take care of us, now we're going to take care of you. We'll get you stronger and then we'll get you home in time for the start of the school year." he said, winking at me.

"Oh, joy. The start of the school year," I said, sighing and making him grin. 

A knock at the door startled us all. Doctor Wendell stood there, a smile on his face. "Hello, I'm Doctor Wendell," he said, introducing himself to Jeremy, Elena and Aunt Jenna. "I'm afraid that you'll have to leave for now, Miss Gilbert is going to need lots of rest to recover. I know you're thinking, "but she just slept for four months!", but I assure you, it's not the type of rest she needed to recover properly."

With sad faces, my family gave hugs and kisses and wishes to get better before they walked out the door. Before she left, Elena mentioned that the bag that Jeremy had brought up with him was filled with my clothes from home and essentials like shampoo, conditioner, body wash, deodorant, etc. I thanked her and waved as they left, then turned my attention to Doctor Wendell. 

"Good afternoon Doctor Wendell. I was wondering if there is any way that I could get a shower before I try and sleep again?" 

Dr. Wendell nodded. "I'll get the nurse to come in and help you. Your legs aren't strong enough to hold you by yourself just yet, but a few weeks with physical therapy and you should be right as rain. I'll see you in the morning, Miss Gilbert."

"Thank you, Dr. Wendell. Goodbye," I said, as he left, shutting the door behind him. I huffed out a breath and let myself plop back against the pillow. How insane was this? I closed my eyes, trying to get my brain to accept and adjust to everything I'd learned so far. I must have been more tired than I thought, because I started to doze. The opening of the door jerked me back awake and Nurse Holt was standing over me.

"Dr. Wendell says you'd like a shower?"

I nodded. "Yes, please." She smiled and helped me to carefully sit on the edge of the bed. I was only slightly dizzy, so we carefully stood me up. My legs hurt and felt really weak, but with help from the nurse I was able to half-hobble, half-be-dragged to the shower stall. Luckily the shower had a stool inside. The nurse stood outside the open doorway while I washed my body with white jasmine scented body wash, then the same fragrance for shampoo and conditioner. The nurse helped me comb my hair before braiding it back for me, though it was still damp. 

Nurse Holt helped me stand in front of the mirrors and I finally got a look at myself. My facial shape reminded me a lot of Jeremy's, just more feminine. My eyes were an olive green, and my hair was the same beautiful red as Aunt Jenna's, just a bit darker shade, almost a chestnut color. It was also more curly, from the little bits that had escaped my braid and ringletted around my ears. My ears were pierced and small white diamond studs were placed in the holes. I assume that Elena had done it. 

After looking my fill, I hurriedly brushed my teeth, then rinsed my mouth with a peppermint mouthwash that felt like it was burning my mouth with acid instead of peroxide for whitening. The nurse helped me back to bed and I sighed, feeling exhausted. "Thank you, Nurse Holt," I said, and she smiled and nodded before shutting off the light and closing the door, leaving the light above my headboard glowing as the only remaining light in the room. I sighed and reached up to grasp the cord to the light, tugging it to turn it off. The darkness closed in around me, but I was somehow comforted by it instead of afraid. I closed my eyes and allowed darkness to pull me under into the world of dreams.


	3. Hello, Horatio

*Three Weeks Later*  
  
"Come on, Clara, breathe! Breathe through the pain. I know it hurts, just a few more steps. Come on, you can do it! Good girl!" My physical therapist, Anna, helped me to sit down in my wheelchair. I was breathing hard, sweating so bad that my hair was sticking to my head like a helmet, and my legs were shaking so hard I though I the bones had turned to Jell-O.  
  
Anna handed me a bottle of water. "You have come so far, Clara! You've done an amazing job in just a few weeks. I know you've been pushing yourself to be ready to go back to school. Well, I think that with a few stipulations, you are ready to go!" she said.  
  
I looked up, hopeful. "What stipulations?" I asked.  
  
"Well, even though you're doing great, you are still going to need the cane." she replied. I sighed and glared at the offending object, a curve-handled bright pink piece of equipment that Elena had picked out for me when she'd been told that I would need one for therapy.  
  
I was beginning to hate the color pink. It seemed that  pre-coma Clara had been enamored of the color. Post-coma me, not so much. I desperately prayed that when I returned home that Aunt Jenna would let me repaint my walls, which Elena had told me were also a shade of pink.  
  
Coming out of my reverie, I sucked down the bottle of cold water, letting it soothe my exercise-dried throat. I closed my eyes, and used my sleeve to wipe the sweat from my forehead. "So? One more time?" I asked, and Anna grinned and nodded. "Once more."  
  
I carefully stood and Anna handed me my cane. "Might as well get used to using it, at least for a while. It will help steady you until your balance and equilibrium is just a bit better." she said and I nodded in reply.  
  
"So what are my other stipulations?" I asked as we slowly paced the floor of the therapy gym.  
  
Anna walked behind me with my wheelchair in case I needed it quickly, holding onto me with the other hand on the strong-woven cloth fall-belt around my waist. "Well, obviously the cane, but also that you have to take breaks every once in a while, you can't push yourself to exhaustion. Also, Dr. Wendell will be writing you an excuse so that you can leave your classes a few minutes early so that you aren't jostled too badly in the hallways, we don't need you taking a spill. We're trying to go forward in your progress, not regress backwards."  
  
I grinned back at her. "Very true!" By now, I was huffing again and my legs were starting to ache.  
  
"Five steps more, Clara! Four! Three! Two! And, one! Good girl, now sit!" she said, pushing the wheelchair forwards so I could sit down. "Look at that, girl! You did it! You made your fifty-feet goal!" she said and pointed down the hallway. I laughed breathlessly. Sure enough, I had finally done it. I had walked an entire hallway-fifty feet-without having to stop. I had completed my final goal I'd had to reach before I could start school again, the ability to walk the length of a school hall before having to stop.  
  
Anna high-fived me and wheeled me out to the front of the building, my bag beside me in the chair. I stood and sat on the bench out front, leaning my head back and enjoying the sunshine.  
  
"Jenna's picking you up?" Anna asked.  
  
"Yup, should be here any minute," I asnswered. She nodded at me and walked back into the building.  
  
A few minutes later my phone rang. I searched through my bag til I found it. "Hello?"  
  
"Oh, Clara, hi sweetheart. Um, I'm running a bit late," Jenna said. I started to giggle as I heard her swearing at other drivers. "I'll be there-hey, asshole, if you don't know how to drive, get off the road!-as soon as I can. It's called a blinker, you stupid sonofa-You cut me off, you, you ASSHOLE! God, Clara, remind me to show you defensive driving, okay, darling?"  
  
I was still giggling, but nodded, before I realized she couldn't see me. "Sure thing, Aunt Jenna!"  
  
"Ok, be there soon!" she said, before hanging up. I put the phone back in my bag, and started humming to myself. I pulled out my camera and started taking random snapshots of things I could see from the bench.  
  
I yelped in surprise when a large crow landed on the bench beside me and let out an inordinately loud "caw!"  
  
"Well, hello to you too!" I said. The crow turned it's head to look at me. "Are you hungry, my fine fellow?" I asked, realizing how silly I sounded talking to a bird, but unable to stop myself. I reached into my bag and pulled out a ham and cheese sandwich that I hadn't eaten at lunch. I tore it into small pieces and offered a piece to the crow in my open hand. I was a bit surprised when he actually took it, rather gently, from my palm. I spent the next ten minutes feeding him bits of bread, cheese and thinly sliced ham.  
  
"So what should I call you, my raven-feathered friend?" I said. " We need a name to suit your darkness. How about...Poe?" I asked.  
  
The bird squawked.  
  
"I'll take that as a no. Alfred?"  
  
Another squawk.  
  
"Byron"  
  
Squawk.  
  
"Edward?"  
  
Squawk.  
  
"Yeah, you don't sparkle like a disco ball enough to be a Cullen. Hmmm, you're going to be difficult. How about Horatio?"  
  
As if he was thinking about it, he clicked his beak a few times before letting out a soft "caw!"  
  
I smiled. "Very well, Horatio it is. A pleasure to make your aquantance, Horatio. I'm Clara," said.  
  
I let out a soft yelp as Horatio hopped from his place on the arm of the bench to the back of it, stepping closer to me before he started taking locks of my hair in his beak and tugging on them gently, as if grooming me. I smiled and closed my eyes, humming to myself.  
  
Suddenly there was a loud squawk and I opened my eyes just in time to see Horatio fly away. At the same time there was the sound of a door opening and Jenna was walking towards me. I sighed and packed up my bits of trash from the sandwich and tossed it into my bag. "Bye, Horatio," I said softly.  
  
"Clara! How did today go?" Jenna asked as she helped me to the car. I told her about my day as we drove to the house. Neither of us noticed the tall dark-haired man standing beside therapy building's gazebo, or that Horatio flew along behind the car, following us home.


	4. Welcome back, Class!

_I knew I was dreaming, but everything was strangely more vivid than usual. The house that I had slowly become accustomed to over the last few weeks stood in front of me and then suddenly I was inside. "Hello?" I called out, walking throughout the living room and kitchen. No one answered, so I climbed the stairs. All the doors were wide open except one. My room. I turned the knob, opening the door._

  
_In a flash, I was sprawled out on the bed. But it wasn't the bed I knew for a fact that was mine. This bed was much larger, with ivory satin sheets, and a canopy draped with gauzy ivory and burgundy curtains. I was laid on my back, naked but for a sheet strategically drawn over my skin covering from my breasts to my thighs._

  
_A man hovered over me, though I couldn't see his face. He was kissing along my throat, murmuring my name reverently as though I were some long-lost goddess. His hips ground into mine. I gasped as he entered me, whimpering as he filled me for the first time. He kissed away my tears, telling me how perfect I was. I leaned up and kissed him, my hand caressing his face as his hips began to pump harder, his thrusts deeper._

  
_I raised my hips to meet him, my hands going to his shoulders. I felt the tight coiling of an orgasm building  and I stared up into intense blue eyes as the world fell apart around me, as I screamed out for him. He cried out my name, pouring his seed inside me as his face changed. I felt no fear as black veins appeared under those beautiful blue eyes and he buried his face in my neck. I felt the first bite of pain as he sunk his fangs deep, then sighed in pleasure as he began to drink, my hands gliding over his strong, muscled back. "Yes, drink, my love," I whispered to him._

* * *

  
I jerked awake, disoriented. Sunlight poured through my open window. I groaned and looked at my clock and groaned again. I sat on the edge of the bed and mentally prepared myself before I stood, grasping the cane that stood next to the bed. I used it to help me balance myself as I made my way to my dresser. I quickly pulled out an outfit for the day: plum colored bra and panty set, a rich burgundy sweater with a matching burgundy spaghetti strap tank top underneath, a maroon plaid pleated skirt, wine red-and-black vertical striped leggings, and a pair of knee high black suede boots with no heel. Anna had told me no shoes with heels for a long while, we were still trying to get me used to walking on flat surfaces, we didn't need me trying to do it in "ankle-killers," as she called them, just yet. I slid on a pair of tiny diamond stud earrings, a silver ring with a pinky-nail sized garnet, and a silver locket my mother had given me. And not a scrap of pink anywhere to be seen.

  
I smiled as I looked around the room. As I'd hoped, Jenna had let me repaint my room from the hideous pepto-bismol pink it had been. Now it was a gorgeous turqoise blue on all the walls but one. On this wall, I'd put up a plain Ivory color with a stenciled wall-sized frame in antique gold. Inside the giant frame, I'd put up cork board, and had pinned pictures of my family and friends, along with tags of their names to one side with little jeweled pins. On the other, I posted pieces of paper with things I remembered or was told about myself. Like how my favorite take out was Chinese: chicken with mushrooms over vegetable lo mein, crab rangoon with sweet and sour sauce, egg rolls, and won ton soup. Or that I preferred wintergreen mint gum over spearmint. Or that my favorite soda was Dr. Pepper, but I also loved Sprite, but that my favorite all-time drink was Lemonade. Just little odds and ends that made up the me that I didn't quite remember.

  
A beep from my phone made me realize that it was time to finish getting ready and grab some breakfast before Elena's friend-and my friend, I corrected myself mentally-Bonnie arrived. I very carefully gripped the bannister as I made my way downstairs. "It's all about the coffee, Aunt Jenna," Elena said, pouring herself a cup. I smirked. "Forget your stupid coffee, tea is where it's at," I said, making my way towards the kettle on top of the stove. I filled it and placed it on the burner, ratcheting the heat to high to bring it to a boil. I laughed as Jeremy stole Elena's cup of coffee. I took pity on her and poured her a new mug while I waited on my water to boil.

  
I made myself a quick breakfast of strawberry yogurt layered with blueberries, bananas, strawberries and crunchy date and almond granola that Jenna bought at a local organic store. It was sweetened with honey and toasted with nutmeg and cinnamon, it was delicious with the fruit and yogurt. Just as I finished making my yogurt parfait, the kettle whistled. I poured the boiling water over a teabag of Earl Grey in my mug. I let it steep while I ate, then added sweetener and a bit of milk to it. I sipped it carefully, finishing it just as I heard Bonnie honking the horn.

  
I heard Elena getting on Jeremy's case again and sighed, wishing she would leave him alone. They'd fought so often since I'd been home. More often than not, Jeremy would sneak into my room later and just want to be held. I obliged him, wrapping my arms around him and listened while he would tell me stories of Mom and Dad as I would run my fingers through his hair. He stomped out the door, but stopped when I called his name. He turned back to me, his eyes still angry. I opened my arms to him and he rolled his eyes but gave me a hug, lifting me in the air as I protested, laughing. I kissed the top of his head as he lifted me, then he put me down, glaring at Elena as he walked past, putting his earbuds in.

  
She sighed. "How is it that he doesn't give you the "death, murder, kill" glare?" she asked.

  
I shrugged. "I don't know. I just, well, listen to him, I guess. I don't get after him about every little thing. I'm not saying I agree with him getting high all the time, but I understand needing to cope with things. For you, it's writing in your diary. For Jeremy, it's using drugs to lessen the pain so he can deal with the everyday." I reply.

  
"And you?" she asks.

  
"I don't know if I've found my way to cope yet. Right now everything is still buried beneath learning so much new stuff so quickly."I said, and jumped as Bonnie honked again. "Let's go before she hunts us down."

  
Elena laughed and nodded, helping me down the stairs to Bonnie's car. "Morning, Bon-bon,"I said, climbing in. She nodded at me as I climbed into the back of the car, buckling myself in as Elena shut the door for me after handing me my cane. I opened a book I was currently reading, blanking out of their conversation until there was a loud thump and the car careened towards the side of the road.

  
    Bonnie was hysterical. "What was that?! Oh, my god! Elena, Clara, are you okay?"

  
    Elena and I both hurried to reassure her. "It's okay. I'm fine. We're fine."

  
"It was like a bird or something. It came out of nowhere."

  
    "Really, I can't be freaked out by cars for the rest of my life," Elena said, and I nodded in agreement.

  
 "I predict this year is going to be kick ass. And I predict all the sad and dark times are over and you are going to be beyond happy,"Bonnie said, looking around before putting the car  in gear and finishing the short drive to the high school.

* * *

  
There were so many people, I thought. So many of them wh probably knew pre-coma me. And I didn't know, or recognize any of them. I sighed as I climbed carefully from the car, sliding my bag over my head and shoulder before gripping my cane to stand more steadily. Elena looked over at me. "You good?" she asked, and I nodded, trying to ignore the stares.

  
We made our way to our lockers, Elena and Bonnie's conversation moving from what a girl was wearing to how this year was going to be amazing. They were brought up short when out of nowhere a blond cheerleader-type appeared. "Elena! Clara! Oh my god!"

  
She gave us both hugs quickly. "How are you? It's so good to see you! How are they? Are they good?" she asked Bonnie.

  
"Caroline. We're right here. We're fine," Elena said and I nodded, smiling at her.

  
"Really?"

  
"Yep, much better."

  
"Oh, you poor thing," Caroline said, hugging Elena again. She turned to me. "How about the memories? Anything new coming back?" she asked.

  
"A little, here and there," I admitted. She smiled and nodded.

  
"Okay, Caroline," Elena said, her tone slightly dismissing.

  
"Oh! Okay. See you guys later?" she said, still bright and bubbly. All three of us nodded and she sped off, spotting some of the other cheerleaders.

  
"No comment," Elena said, looking at Bonnie.

  
"I'm not going to say anything," she said, grinning. I giggled.

  
"Well, let's get going, the sooner to get the day over with," Elena said.

  
"Yup," I agreed, and the three of us headed towards our first class, both of them on either side of me, keeping the other students from jostling me too much.  
As we passed by the office, Bonnie stopped us. "Hold up. Who's this?"

  
"All I see is back," Elena said.

  
"It's a hot back," Bonnie said, and I laughed. She wasn't wrong though, whoever it was, he had nice broad shoulders that transitioned into a lean body. "I'm sensing Seattle and he plays the guitar."

  
"You're going to run this psychic thing into the ground, aren't you?" I asked.

  
"Pretty much," she agreed, making me smile.

  
Suddenly there was a commotion to my side and I watched Elena chase Jeremy into the boy's bathroom. "Did I miss something?" I asked. Bonnie just shrugged.

  
"Come on, let's get to history, we can catch up with her later," Bonnie said and I nodded.

  
We made our way into the classroom and Mr. Tanner looked up. He practically sneered when he saw my cane. "Miss Gilbert. I hope you will keep that monstrosity out of the way." I blushed and nodded. I handed him the slip of paper from the school office, informing the teachers that I needed to leave a few minutes early from each class so that I wouldn't get injured in the hallways.

  
"What's this?" he asked.

  
"It's from the office, sir. I need to be released from class a few minutes early until I'm approved from my doctor's office," I replied.

  
He sighed like it was a huge deal. "Very well, Miss Gilbert. But you had better not miss anything in my classes because of it," he said and I nodded before taking my seat.

  
"Asshole," I heard Bonnie mutter and I couldn't help but agree.

  
Suddenly Elena appeared in the doorway, followed by a handsome boy who must be the new guy. Bonnie whistled softly and Elena, who'd just taken her seat next to me, blushed a brilliant scarlet red.

  
Tanner stood and began the class. "Once our home state of Virginia joined confederacy in 1861, it created a tremendous amount of tension within the state. People in Virginia's northwest region had different ideals than those from the traditional deep south. Then Virginia divided in 1863 with the northwest region joining the union." He continued on, completely unaware that most of us had stopped listening by this point.

  
I was busy watching Elena and the new guy. They were so busy staring at each other a bomb could have gone off and I don't think they'd have noticed. I saw Bonnie tapping out a text message on her phone before Elena's phone beeped quietly. Whatever it said made her grin. She looked back at the new guy again before the bell rang.


	5. Meet me by the Gravestones

Luckily for me, none of the teachers gave me any hell about my cane or having to leave early like Tanner had. Most of them were supremely gracious about the whole thing, and while the other students worked quietly, they would write out my assignments for me, gathering what papers I needed and handed them to me so I could walk to the next class.

  
As I walked from my second class of the day to my English class, I suddenly went flying, having not stepped high enough and catching myself on the toe of my own boot. I lay there for a second, stunned, and thanking God that no one was around to see me flailing as I hit the floor. "Ugh. Dammit," I moaned, sitting up.

  
"Are you okay?" a male voice asked.

  
I cringed and looked over to see the new guy, crouched down next to me. "Oh god...how much did you see?" I whimpered.

  
He grinned. "Enough."

  
I sighed and facepalmed. I got to my knees and started gathering everything that had fallen from my bag. I was surprised when he started helping, handing me papers that had flown to far for me to reach without having to move to get them. He held his hand out, helping me to my feet and handed me my cane.

  
"Are you sure you're alright?" he asked.

  
"Oh yeah, definitely. I mean, hey, what's another bruise?" I laughed. He smiled and looked around. "Are you lost?"

  
He ran his hand through his hair to the back of his neck and nodded. "So, so lost." he said.

  
"Where are you headed?" I asked.

  
He pulled out his schedule. "Grimm, for English," he said.

  
"Hey, I'm headed there too! Follow me!" I said. I grabbed my cane, stepping carefully, my leg throbbing where I'd landed on it so hard. I wasn't lying when I said there'd be bruising. "You got lucky," I said, "I only know where Grimm's English room is because my sister showed me earlier! I didn't have Grimm last year like she did. Most of my classes were on the other side of the building, except for lunch!"

  
He laughed. "Well then today is my lucky day!" He looked at my cane and his face went somber. "I don't want to be rude or intrude or anything, but what's the deal with the cane?"

  
I grinned at him. "How dare you ask such a thing!" I teased, making him laugh again. He had a nice laugh, much better than his oh-so-serious brooding look he'd had. "Nah, it's nothing you won't hear about anyways. Four months ago, my parents were killed in a car accident, they drove off Wickery Bridge. My sister and I were in the car with them. We survived, they didn't. No one's really even sure how we got out of the car. Well, I ended up in a coma for four months. Three weeks ago, I finally woke up, with no memories of who I was, who anyone was. Plus, because I'd been in a coma for so long, I lost most of my mobility. I've had to relearn how to walk again, but my balance is still kind of screwy. The cane helps, but it also hinders a bit. As you saw, I can lose my balance in an instant and go down."

  
By now we were in front of the English room. A few moments after we arrived, the bell rang. "Wow, that's terribly sad about your parents. I'm sorry. By the way, I'm Stefan. Stefan Salvatore," he said, holding out his hand. I smiled and took it, shaking it quickly. His shake was steady, strong and everything a good handshake should be. I smiled. "Thanks, Stefan. Nice to meet you. I'm Clara Gilbert. You're in my history class, too, with my sister Elena."

  
His eyes lit up. "I knew you looked familiar," he said.

  
I grinned. "I'll have you know I'm incredibly hard to forget!" I teased. The door to the classroom opened and students poured out, making us step backwards. I started to trip backwards and gasped. Stefan was suddenly behind me, catching my shoulders and holding me upright. I blushed.

  
"Are you sure that cane is doing any good?" he said, laughing softly.

  
"I'm beginning to wonder!"I said, glaring down at it. "Thanks for the save!"

  
"Anytime," he said as we filed into the room. He sat in the chair next to me, but the minute Elena walked into the room, she was all Mr. Salvatore saw, making me snicker at him.

He turned to see what was so funny. "She thinks you're cute, too," I whispered to him as the teacher began the class. He blushed and I giggled. He shook his head at me laughing and we focused on the teacher.

* * *

  
The rest of the day passed quickly and I waited at the front doors for Elena. She saw me and smiled. "Hey, Jenna called me. She rescheduled your appointment with Anna for after she got off campus, so we'll go home first. Do you mind if we stop somewhere else first?" she asked, and I knew she was wanting to see Mom and Dad's graves.

  
"Sure," I said. We walked slowly, the quarter-mile to the cemetery wasn't far, but there were a few spots where the ground was a bit rocky and she had to help keep me from falling on my behind again. We talked about our day, she told me about confronting Jeremy in the boy's bathroom that morning. I tried not to groan and roll my eyes at her.

  
Of course he's going to act out when she does things like that. Just let him be. It's not like the pot is hurting him. If it was harder drugs, I'd be more worried. But I had point blank asked him what drugs he was taking. He assured me that while he sold other things to people, he only smoked and occasionally drank a beer or three. I could handle that, it wasn't much more than what most of our peers were doing anyways, Jeremy just did it a bit more often. And even then, seeing my worry, he'd guaranteed me he would ratchet it down to a few times a week instead of constantly like he had been all summer.

  
When Elena told me about walking out of the men's room and right into Stefan Salvatore, I had to laugh, and then told her about my equally embarrassing meeting with the new student. All too soon, we arrived. "I'm going to wander around a bit in the older section,"I said. Elena nodded. One of the things I had found (renewed?) was an interest in old headstones and photographing them. I pulled my camera from my bag, looped the cord around my neck, and headed towards the older part of the cemetery.

  
The older tombstones were in poor condition, some of them barely readable. But I found a few that were in relatively good shape. I stopped by one and stared at the inscription. Giuseppe Salvatore. Hmm...wonder if it's a relation of Stefan's? I steadied my camera and clicked a few photographs, hoping at least one of them would turn out well. I sighed and leaned my hip against one of the tombstones that looked sturdy, taking my weight off my bruised leg.

  
I heard a caw and turned my head, smiling when I saw a crow hopping up next to me on the tombstone. As I looked, I noticed one of the crow's tail feathers was tipped with white. "Horatio?" I whispered. The crow clacked his beak and cawed at me. "Well hello, my friend!" I said excitedly. I reached out, slowly and carefully, and ran a fingertip over the top of his head, amazed that he allowed it.

  
"I have something for you!" I said, reaching into my bag and pawing through it until I found what I was looking for. I quickly unwrapped the apple fruit-and-grain bar, tearing off small pieces and placing them on the tombstone for him. He ate them with gusto, until the entire bar was finished. "Sorry, buddy, that's all I have for now. Next time I come I'll bring more."

  
I laughed as he flew up, circling around my head for a moment before taking off again. I sighed and then gasped as the tombstone I was leaning against crumbled and I fell backwards in a heap. "Ow..."

  
A deep voice came from above me. "Now what is a pretty girl like you doing on the ground in a place like this?" he asked. I opened my eyes and grinned. He was backlit by the sun, so I couldn't make out his features.

  
"Well, sir, one must simply walk into a cemetery, lean against a tombstone she thinks is stable so that she can rest for a moment, then have said tombstone crumble-which she feels horrible about, let me assure you-and then land in a graceless heap upon said ground."

  
He chuckled and held out his hand. I took it and allowed him to pull me up, but he pulled too hard and I overbalanced, slamming into his chest. I blushed and pushed back a little, biting my lip when he held me against him. I looked up at him and gasped. Blue eyes that seemed to almost glow. My mind went back to my dream and I shivered in remembered pleasure.

  
"Miss? Are you alright?" he asked, his voice sounding both concerned and amused.

  
"I...I'm sorry, thank you, but I have to go,"I said, pushing myself away from him, grabbing my cane and walking away from his as quickly as possible. I looked back after a few steps to find him gone. I followed the pathway towards the middle of the cemetery. I was surprised to see Elena up ahead. "Elena?" I called. She looked up and sighed in relief.

  
"Thank goodness. You would not believe the weirdness. First there was this crow, then the fog got all crazy and I thought someone was chasing me, and I fell down the embankment. Then I ran into Stefan Salvatore, and he must be squeamish around blood or something because he ran off after I checked my leg I'd accidentally stabbed with a stick and it was bleeding," she said, and shuddered. She looked so worried that I decided not to tell her about my meeting with the mysterious man who had the same eyes as my dream-lover.

"Let's go home," I suggested and she nodded in agreement. Neither of us saw the crow that watched us from the treetops, or the blue-eyed stranger peering from around the plinth of a tall angel statue that topped a grave.


	6. Questions, Answers and Watchers

When Elena and I arrived at home, she hurried off to the bathroom to clean up her wound, while Jenna and I packed ourselves into Jenna's car to go to see Anna for my physical therapy session. Twenty minutes later, Jenna was seated in the waiting room reading an old copy of Women's Weekly, while I was gripping tightly to the two bars on either side of my waist and using them to help me balance as I took steps forward on shaky legs.

"Four more steps, Clara. Three more. Two more. One more. Good! Good job. Okay, this time, no bars unless you need them. Ready?" Anna asked, her hair shining in he light from the window-filled room.

I nodded, breathing hard. I pulled my hands from the bars, my legs already starting to feel like jell-o. I took a deep breath and walked as normally as possibly, back straight, arms at my sides. I gasped when my knees buckled at one point and I grabbed the bars.

"You okay?" Anna asked, standing next to me in case I needed her assistance.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm good. Just long day today, plus I fell a couple times. Honestly, I'm not sure whether that cane is helpful or a device designed to slay me," I said, making Anna laugh.

"You're just not used to it yet, honey. And yeah, I saw the bruises, especially that nasty one on your hip when you changed into your shorts for our muscle stretching exercises. How'd you manage that one?" she asked.

So I told her about the tombstone photography and having the stone crumble under me. I didn't, however, tell her about the gorgeous but frightening blue-eyed man or my little feathered friend Horatio.

* * *

After my therapy session, Jenna and I stopped at the store to pick up groceries and something quick for dinner. Somehow I'm the only Gilbert that has apparently learned to cook. It seems it's one of my new things, because I didn't do it before the accident, but now I'm quite an excellent cook. Jenna, Elena and Jeremy are thrilled about this little acquisition of mine. I've been experimenting with different recipes Mom had left in an old cookbook and so far all of them have turned out fantastic. I'm beginning to wonder if it was more that I wouldn't cook before rather than I couldn't.

We arrived back home and I put a chicken, broccoli, mushroom, rice and cheese casserole in the oven and set the timer for forty minutes. While it baked, I tossed together a quick salad of mixed greens, feta cheese, tomatoes, onion, cucumber and made Mom's recipe for a tzatziki dressing. I yelled down for Elena and Jeremy when the timer went off and we sat down and ate.

"I'm meeting Bonnie at the Grill. Do you want to come, Clara?" Elena asked.

I looked at Jenna to be sure I could go. She nodded. "Just be careful, walk slowly and take your cane and medical ID bracelet," she said. I nodded, showing her the silver bracelet already on my wrist, I'd gotten used to wearing it and didn't take it off. It merely showed that I had had an allergic reaction to one of the medications they'd used on me while I was in a coma and that it brought on seizures. "Wait. I got this! Don't stay out late, it's a school night."

Elena congratulated her on remembering her parental responsibilities and I laughed, finishing my last bite of casserole. We loaded our plates in the dishwasher and I went upstairs to grab my wallet and my denim jacket. As I walked back down, Elena was in the doorway with someone. I recognized the voice as I came closer. "Hi Stefan!" I said, grinning at him.

"Clara, hi! Um, your sister just invited me to go with you both to the Grill. Is that okay with you?" he asked.

"Pffft. Of course it is, dude! Come on, let's go!" I said grabbing his other arm, and hobbling down the stairs with the help of my cane. He eyed it warily.

"I see you still have the doom-stick with you," he said, making me laugh.

"Doom-stick?" Elena asked.

I giggled and nodded and reminded her of what had happened that afternoon. She started laughing too. The three of us talked about nothing important on the way to the grill, but I was sure glad I'd grabbed my jacket on the way there, the night had turned cool, and a slight breeze seemed to curl right against my neck, making me shiver every few minutes. I was extremely glad to see The Grill and tried to skip to the door, which was extremely awkward with my limp. Both Stefan and Elena were laughing with me as we walked in the door.

I immediately saw Matt and walked over to him for a hug. His face was sad as he looked at Elena and Stefan, but he gave me a smile as he lifted me up for a big hug. "Teddy!" I exclaimed, hugging him back and making him laugh. "Missed you too, shortcake." he said.

Matt and I had been good friends before the accident and he was one of the first people to visit me after waking from the coma. He didn't press me for answers or to be who I had been before. I called him Teddy, because he was like the most lovable teddy bear ever. I don't know why Elena broke up with him. He was dependable and sweet and everything most girls want from a guy. He might not be the most adventurous person, but there's a lot to be said to for dependable and sweet.

I sat down carefully, Elena and Stefan joining me at the table with Bonnie and Caroline.

"So, you were born in Mystic Falls?" Caroline asked, sounding more like an interrogation.

"Mm-Hmm. And moved when I was still young." Stefan answered good-naturedly.

"Parents?" Bonnie asked.

"My parents passed away." he answered. Elena looked at each other and then back to Stefan with identical looks of understanding.

Elena spoke for both of us. "I'm sorry. Any siblings?"

"None that I talk to. I live with my uncle."

"So, Stefan, if you're new, then you don't know about the party tomorrow," Caroline said, trying to sound seductive. I had to hold back a giggle. It was clear to anyone that Stefan was into my big sister.

"It's a back to school thing at the falls." said, giving him a bit more information.

"Are you going?" he asked Elena, looking into her eyes and making her blush. I couldn't control my grin and neither could Bonnie.

"Of course she is." Bonnie answered for her.

I looked at the clock and sighed. "Hey, 'Lena. It's getting late, we've gotta head home."

She sighed and she and Stefan did that deep-gaze vision again as they said goodnight. I, being my (now) usual bouncy self hopped up and hugged him. "Bye Steffie! See you tomorrow!"

He grinned and rubbed the top of my head, messing up my hair and laughing at my squeal of "heyyyy!" as I tried to fix my hair. "See you tomorrow, Clara-belle!"

"Clara-belle? Huh, I like it!" I said and grinned. I waved to everybody, hollering goodbye to Matt who was playing pool with Tyler Lockwood. Lockwood gave me a wave too. Apparently before the accident he'd been trying to get me to go out with him. He hadn't come near me since I'd awakened from the coma. I think I freaked him out, somehow. But considering how he acted towards my beloved baby brother, and towards Matt's sister Vicky, he wasn't someone I was all in that much of a hurry to get to know.

Elena and I walked home and she helped me climb the stairs, since my legs were so tired after all the walking we'd done today. "Tomorrow we'll see if Bonnie can give us a ride, okay? This can't be good for your legs, working yourself and them to exhaustion and pain." I nodded in agreement. "Probably not," I said with a laugh.

She dropped me off in my room and I quickly changed out of my clothes. I filled the tub with hot water, bath salts, and a few sweet jasmine oil-filled bath beads. I shut the door and let the room fill with steam before I lowered myself into the water. I sighed and leaned back, letting the hot water leech out some of the pain from my overworked legs and the bruises at my hip and thigh. I closed my eyes and hummed to myself, not realizing I was drifting off.

* * *

_Dark eyes followed me, the color of sweet, deep-dark chocolate and caramel. Fingertips ran lightly up my sides, almost tickling, eliciting shivers. He pressed his face into the valley between my breasts, kissing the tips before drawing each nipple into his mouth. I arched hard for him, crying out in pleasure. He pulled me to him, kissing me deeply, our tongues battling for dominance._

_He placed me gently on the bed, running his hands from ankle to thigh, before climbing up my body and kissing me. With one swift thrust, he was inside me, both of us moaning as he joined us. "Exquisite," he whispered before he began to thrust, stroking himself inside my core._

_He pulled me into his lap, thrust up into me, as he gripped my hair gently, pulling my head back to expose my throat. His face changed, veins appearing beneath his eyes as his fangs elongated. "Yes," I whispered, "drink, love. Take what you wish." I whimpered as his fangs plunged into my tender throat, as pleasure filled me. I cried out my completion as he drank from me. A few thrusts more and he called out my name wildly, his tip pressed tight against my cervix as he poured his seed deep inside me._

* * *

I jerked awake, the water having gone tepid, my breathing harsh. My body tingled, as if in the aftershocks of an orgasm and I blinked. What was going on with me and these dreams?! I shook it off, wrapping myself in a towel as I let the water drain from the tub. As I faced the mirror, my skin was glowing with health, my cheeks blushed and my lips looked bruised as if I'd been kissing someone. What the hell?

I shook my head and dried my hair, pulling it back into a braid. I flopped it over my shoulder to my lay against my back as I pulled on a long cotton nightgown with thick straps, cool enough for the slighty-still-warm air in my bedroom. But the room felt stuffy, so I opened the window. I laid back on the bed, pulling my turquoise-colored quilt up over me and laying back on my cool plum colored cotton sheets. I sighed in relaxation as the breeze flittered over my hot skin. I turned to set my phone alarm for in the morning and laid back, closing my eyes though slightly fearing another strange dream. But I was too tired to stop myself from falling asleep. Luckily, my dreams were the normal kind, though still incredibly vivid.

* * *

Damon sat on the windowsill of the girl's room. He had to be invited in, and soon, he thought. He'd enjoyed the fight earlier with his brother, taunting him about Elena and Clara Gilbert. Elena looked so much like Katherine, it made his heart ache. But little Clara Gilbert, now she was a firecracker, red hair and all. She'd made him laugh with her witty reply the day before about how she'd ended up on the ground. She made him feel alive, again, somehow. He'd watched her often in the last few days, through the eyes of his bird-minion, whom the girl had named Horatio. He'd even caught himself calling the bird by the name.

Speaking of which, Horatio popped beside him on the windowsill, clacking his beak softly so as not to wake the sleeping human girl who fed him wonderful bits of food. He hopped up onto his master's hand. "Keep watching her for me," Damon ordered him, and Horatio cawed lightly in affirmative response. He hopped up, grooming his master, as he'd done for the fire-haired girl, the Clara-girl, before.

As the sun began to rise, Damon sighed and tossed Horatio into the air to find a nesting spot for the day to watch Clara from. He himself returned to the boarding house to sleep and to plot and plan. How best could he use the two beautiful Gilbert girls to give his brother the lifetime of misery he'd awarded him all those years ago?


	7. Party at the Falls

History class dragged by the next morning. I sat in my chair and listened as Mr. Tanner droned on. "The Battle of Willow Creek took place right at the end of the war in our very own Mystic Falls. How many casualties resulted in this battle? Ms. Bennett?"

Bonnie was obviously caught off guard, and she probably hadn't read the chapter for class Tanner had assigned, either. "Um...a lot? I'm not sure. Like a whole lot."

Of course, Mr. Tanner had to be a jerk about it, "Cute becomes dumb in an instant, Ms. Bennett. Mr. Donovan? Would you like to take this opportunity to overcome your embedded jock stereotype?"

Matt was Matt and his reply made most of the class giggle, including me. "It's okay, Mr. Tanner, I'm cool with it."

Mr. Tanner chose his next victim, "Hmm. Elena? Surely you can enlighten us about one of the town's most significantly historical events?"

My poor sister was definitely not ready for his question, replying with, "I'm sorry, I-I don't know."

Ugh, call on me, Mr. Tanner, I know! Unfortunately his next words had me so angry I could barely see straight, and I wanted to bash his head a couple times with my cane for being a completely insensitive jackass.

"I was willing to be lenient last year for obvious reasons, Elena. But the personal excuses ended with summer break." Ugh...you total dick! There is no time frame for grieving!

And then out of nowhere, Stefan became my hero! "There were 346 casualties. Unless you're counting local civilians."

Tanner gaped for a moment. "That's correct. Mister...?"

"Salvatore," Stefan replied.

"Salvatore. Any relation to the original settlers here at Mystic Falls?" asked, looking a bit intrigued.

"Distant."

"Well, very good. Except, of course, there were no civilian casualties in this battle," Tanner said, making me frown. Hadn't he read the archives in civil hall? There was some church where like 20 people had been fired upon and the church set ablaze.

Apparently Stefan had read the archives, because he returned with, "Actually, there were 27, sir. Confederate soldiers, they fired on the church, believing it to be housing weapons. They were wrong. It was a night of great loss. The founder's archives are, uh, stored in civil hall if you'd like to brush up on your facts, Mr. Tanner."

Mr. Tanner was obviously not pleased and let out an irritated, "Hmm." before I had to leave for my next class.

* * *

When I met Stefan, Elena, Bonnie, Caroline, and a few others for lunch, I jumped on Stefan's back and laughed when he simply lifted me up to a more comfortable position and carried me through the lunch line. "That was by far one of the most awesome turn arounds I've ever seen in Tanner's class, Steffie!" I said, at his head-level, as I pointed out things for him to put on my tray.

"Oh yeah?" he asked as I handed him my lunch money for him to pay the checkout-lady with. He ignored me and handed her his own money. "Hey! I can pay for my own food!" I said, pouting. He simply laughed at me.

"I know you can. Consider this one of those gallant knight things, kinda like me carrying you so you don't kill either of us with the doom-stick," He said, looking up at me with a grin.

I stuck my tongue out at him. "Fine, carry on, steed!" I said, making the both of us laugh as he easily carried me and the lunch tray back to the table. He set me down carefully, placed the tray in front of me and then sat between me and Elena.

"Oh look, Clara, you've made a friend!" she said, making the three of us laugh.

"Friend, knight, steed, Stefan has many talents!" I replied.

* * *

Later that night we got ready for the party at the falls. I dressed simply but in the clothes that I had come to enjoy. I pulled on a knee-length red plaid pleated skirt over leggings printed with little red plaid Scottie dogs. I wore a lightweight red sweater with 3/4 sleeves. White socks, black Mary Jane shoes, and my denim jacket completed my outfit. I brushed my hair back, two tiny braids at each ear meeting at the back of my head to hold my long bangs out of my face. I slicked on lip balm, lined my eyes with a dark plum eyeliner with lavender and a darker purple glittery shadow, topped off with a quick brush of mascara. Two tiny ruby teardrop earrings, my mother's locket, my medical ID bracelet, and I was ready to go.

"You look great," Elena said, as I Joined her at the door.

"So do you, I said, complimenting her simple, comfortable, yet stylish outfit. "Did you get what I asked for?"

She nodded, holding up what appeared to be bottles of beer. The bottles were dark brown and the labels were ripped off. They'd been placed in an old beer bottle holder, but what was inside wasn't beer. It was a locally produced root beer. I'd learned that while in the past I had been quite a prolific drinker, that it didn't appeal to me any longer and instead of getting wasted on what was being served at the party, I brought my own drink that would keep anyone from realizing that I wasn't getting buzzed too.

Bonnie honked her horn as she pulled up and we climbed into the car. She cranked the pop music and the three of us sang along to the songs we knew-the of course knew many more than I did, as I was still a bit behind on most cultural things that had happened while I was in the coma.

* * *

We reached the falls and everyone headed to where the drinks were being served. I smiled and told Elena that I was going to go find a spot to sit and stare at the falls. As always, I had brought my camera with me. I carried one of my fake beers in one hand and had the camera strap around my neck, clicking pictures as I went. I started along a trail towards the quarry overlooking the falls.

The moon was full, making everything silvery in the night. I sat on the edge of the stone cliff above the water-filled quarry. I looked towards the falls, snapping pictures as it tumbled over the rocks. "Well, well, well. So we meet again, little miss," came that deep voice, close to my side. I glanced up sharply, gasping in surprise.

Somehow I wasn't afraid this time. Instead of panicking as I had before, I smiled at him. "Sorry about running off like that. You startled me yesterday and I was just afraid since I hadn't seen you and you came out of nowhere."

I was surprised when he joined me on the cliff, sitting down next to me in the dirt. He held his hand out to me with a smile. "Damon Salvatore," he said.

I grinned. "Stefan's brother?" I asked.

"Ahh, so you know my baby brother?" he asked, his blue eyes mischievous.

"Yeah, Stef's great. I think he's got a thing for my sister, it's so cute to watch," I said. "Oh! Clara Gilbert, by the way," I said, taking his hand and shaking it. I blushed when he took my hand and kissed the knuckles.

"Believe me, it is my absolute pleasure, Clara. So what are you doing out here all by yourself? Don't you know it's dangerous to be out here alone?" he asked.

"Oh, but I'm not alone, Mr. Salvatore! I've got you to protect me," I said, winking at him and laughing. He looked surprised for a moment before he laughed too.

"Well then, as your protector, allow me to escort you back to the party," he said, standing and holding his hand out to me. I grasped his hand and he pulled me up, a bit too hard again, just so that I would slam into his chest. I laughed and pushed aginst his chest with a finger.

"Someone works out," I laughed, poking him again, and laughing when he choked, apparently I'd found a tickle point. I knew my eyes turned as mischevious as his as I reached forward poking him again.

He laughed for a moment before he grasped my hand gently. He looked down at me with a strange look in his eyes, then brought my hand to his lips once more. He eyes strayed down and saw the bottle in my hand. "Aren't you a little young to be drinking?" he asked.

I grinned up at him and raised a finger to my lips. "Shhh...it's not really beer," I said.

"Then what is it?" he asked, whisking it out of my hand and raising it to his lips. I blushed as I thought of the fact that his lips were now where mine had been. "Root beer?" he asked, grinning, before sipping again. "Really good root beer at that," he said.

I nodded. "It looks close enough to beer that no one would guess it's not, so I don't have anyone hounding me to drink with them," I said, shrugging. "And it's a local brand, if you'd like more, I have the name of it written down in my bag. "

"You are an enigma, Clara Gilbert," he said.

"To myself as well," I told him. He looked confused, so as we walked back towards the party, I explained to him about the car accident and the coma. He looked shocked.

"I'd wondered about the cane," he said, eyes looking pointedly at the doom-stick in my hand.

"Yeah, my balance is really skewed still because of everything that happened."

"That seems understandable," he said. We were getting closer to the party, I could see the firelight from where I was. He grabbed my hand, startling me. "Unfortunately, this is where I leave you, little Gilbert. Thank you for the...interesting company," he said, a smirk on his face. He leaned down and kissed my knuckles again and stood. He looked indecisive for a moment before his lips descended, kissing me on the cheek. "Stay safe, Clara," he said, and before I could say a word, he took off into the woods. I blushed bright red and wandered back towards the fire.

I settled on a log in front of the fire, listening to the conversations around me. Then there was a big commotion and I looked up to find Jeremy carrying a body out of the woods, Elena beside him. "Oh my god!" I said, rushing over, along with everyone else.

* * *

An hour later, Elena, Jeremy and I sat on the low rock wall around the campground area the party had been being held at. Jenna was on her way to pick up Elena and Jeremy, and I was going to go with Bonnie and Caroline to grab some coffee, since I knew I'd be too worked up to sleep tonight. I kissed Jeremy on the forehead, whispering that I'd talk to him in the morning. He smiled at me with glazed eyes and nodded. I hugged Elena before I climbed into the back of Bonnie's car with Caroline.

On the way to Mainline Coffee, Caroline kept us entertained, singing and giving campaign speeches that she was practicing already for Miss Mystic Falls. "You'll do fantastic Caroline," I said, after a particularly moving one. Finally Bonnie pulled up in front of the coffeehouse.

We helped Caroline in, and waved down the waitress. "Coffee, hot and black for our friend here." Bonnie ordered a cappucino, and I ordered a hot chocolate with both marshmallows and whipped cream. Bonnie rolled her eyes at my order and I just smiled back at her.

"You already knew I was crazy, Bonnie. My "coffee" order shouldn't surprise you," I said.

"True. Trust you to come to a coffee house and order hot chocolate. With whipped cream, sprinkles and marshmallows, may I add."

I giggled and Bonnie looked over at Caroline. "Are you sober yet?"

Caroline took a large drink of her coffee. "No."

"Keep drinking. I gotta get you home. I gotta get me home," she said, knowing I would walk back to the house myself.

"Why didn't he go for me? You know, how come the guys that I want never want me?" Caroline asked, looking between me and Bonnie.

"I'm not touching that," Bonnie said, looking at me.

Caroline continued her rant, "I'm inappropriate. I always say the wrong thing. And...Elena always says the right thing. She doesn't even try! And he just picks her. And she's always the one that everyone picks, for everything. And I try so hard, and...I'm never the one."

"It's not a competition, Caroline," Bonnie tried to tell her.

"Yeah, it is," Caroline replied petulantly.

"Caroline, the right guy will come along eventually. The one that will find your so-called "inappropriateness" delightful. The one who laughs with you when you say the wrong thing, after you've apologized, of course. The one who will not see Elena. The one who will see only you. That person is out there, Caroline, just waiting for you. You just have to give him time to find you," I told her. She sniffled and teared up.

"Do you really think so, Clara?" she cried.

"Absolutely!" I said, hugging her to my side. I let her cry herself out a bit on my shoulder, running a hand over her hair. She finally raised her head and smiled at me.

"I like you so much more now, Clara. You're not such a total bitch anymore," she said. Then she looked horrified at what she'd said.

I giggled. "It's ok, Care. I had already figured that I probably wasn't a very nice person before the coma. But I'm learning to be a new me. I'm glad you like the new me," I said.

"Well, I've got to go," I said, looking at the clock. I hugged Caroline and left the money for my hot chocolate and a tip on the table.

I looked up to see a familiar face. I nodded at Damon, smiling as I walked out of the restaurant and towards home. I didn't realize I was leaving my very vulnerable friend to a predator.


	8. Elena, Meet Damon

The next day after school, I joined Elena, Caroline and Bonnie at the Mystic Grill to fold leaflets for the celebration of the Comet that was appearing in the sky for the first time in 145 years. I couldn't wait, my fingers were practically itching to start taking pictures. I'd even rented a special telescoping lens to get some really great photographs.

As we folded the leaflets, the girls were talking about Stefan's visit with Elena last night. He'd stopped by my room to say hi before he and Elena had gone to her room. I knew nothing had happened because they'd kept the door open all night.

"You and Stefan talked all night? There was no sloppy first kiss or touchy feely of any kind?" Caroline asked, in an unbelieving tone.

"Nope," Elena answered, "We didn't go there."

"Not even a handshake? I mean, Elena, we are your friends. Ok? You are supposed to share the smut," Caroline complained.

"Ewww. No, she really doesn't! I'm the sister, I don't want to hear this!" I said, shaking my head at Caroline. She just grinned at me.

"We just talked for hours," Elena replied.

"OK, what is with the blockage? Just jump his bones already! Ok, it's easy. Boy likes girl, girl likes boy, sex!" Caroline exclaimed.

"Hey, virgin here! I don't need to hear this!" I yelped, slamming my hands over my ears and singing "La la la la la!" to myself.

"Profound." Elena answered dryly as she pulled my hands from my ears. I looked up as she stood.

"Where are you going?" Bonnie asked.

"Caroline's right. It is easy. If I sit here long enough, I'll end up talking myself out of it instead of doing what I started the day saying what I was going to do," she said, grabbing her keys and my wrist, pulling me up.

"Wait, why do I have to come?" I asked, grabbing the doom-stick and my jacket.

"Because I'm your ride," she reminded me.

"Oh. Yeah," I said, and sighed, following her.

* * *

We pulled up in front of the Salvatore Boarding House and I looked over at Elena. She looked kinda nervous. "Are you sure you wanna do this?" I asked. She sighed, took a deep breath and nodded.

"Let's go," she said and we both got out of the car.

Elena knocked on the front door and we both waited. After a moment the door opened, and we walked inside.

"Stefan? Stefan?" Elena called, the second time bit louder.

We were both startled when a crow flew into the house, making us jump. "Horatio?" I said, making Elena look at me strangely. We turned around and we both gasped when Damon stood there.

"I...I'm sorry for barging in. The door was...open," Elena said, freaking out a bit. I couldn't help but grin at the sight of my new friend. His eyes again held that mischievous glint and he smiled at us.

"You must be Elena. I'm Damon, Stefan's brother," He said. He turned to me and smiled. "Hello again, little Gilbert."

"Damon!" I said and walked forward to hug him, surprising him at my openness. He patted my back and I released him, stepping back.

"He didn't tell me he had a brother," Elena complained.

"Well, Stefan's not one to brag. Please, come. I'm sure Stefan will be along any second," He said, taking my arm and placing it in his like in old fashioned movies. I grinned and we followed him into the parlor.

"Wow. This is your living room?" Elena asked, looking around.

I released Damon's arm and wandered around the room, looking through the book titles and some of the heirlooms. I nearly squealed when I saw a first edition of Gone with the Wind, one of my favorite book. When I saw the copy of Jane Eyre, I pulled it from the shelf and plopped down on the floor where I was as I started reading it. I heard Damon chuckle softly, but I think he was already getting used to my brand of odd. I heard Elena sigh at me and a smirk reached my lips.

Damon continued the conversation, "Living room, parlor, Sotheby's auction. It's a little kitschy for my taste. I see why my brother's so smitten. It's about time. For a while there, I never thought he'd get over the last one. Nearly destroyed him."

I looked up at that, quirking an eyebrow at Damon.

"The last one?" Elena asked.

"Yeah. Katherine, his girlfriend? Oh, you two haven't had the awkward exes conversation yet," he said, trying to sound remorseful but completely failing.

"Nope," Elena said, sounding frustrated.

"Oops. Well, I'm sure it'll come up now. Or maybe he didn't want to tell you because he didn't want you to think he was on the rebound. We all know how those relationships end," Damon said.

I stood up and walked over to stand by my sister, wondering what had gotten into Damon. He hadn't acted like this before. What was going on with my new friend, I wondered.

"You say it like every relationship is doomed to end," Elena stated.

"I'm a fatalist. Hello, Stefan," Damon said, as Stefan appeared.

"Elena. Clara. I didn't know you were coming over." Stefan sounded strange, his voice emotionless.

"I know. I should have called, I just... " Elena didn't really know what to say.

I simply waved at him. His lips rose slightly, but he still seemed upset, and the smile didn't reach his eyes.

"Oh, don't be silly. You're welcome any time. Aren't they, Stefan? You know, I should break out the family photo albums or some home movies. But...I have to warn you. He wasn't always such a looker," Damon teased. I giggled and he smiled at me.

"Thank you for stopping by, Elena. Clara. Nice to see you." Again, the emotion was missing from Stefan's voice and I wondered if it had something to do with Damon, who I assumed he had a love/hate relationship with, since I recalled that he had said he didn't talk with his brother when we'd been at the Grill.

"Yeah, we should probably go. It was nice to meet you, Damon," Elena said.

"Great meeting you, too, Elena. And it's always wonderful to see you again, Clara," he said, smiling and kissing the knuckles of my hands. I smiled and tried not to blush as he did so. When he pulled back, I leaped forward, hugging him.

"Bye Damon," I said, smiling up at him. He pushed a lock of hair back from my face and smiled down at me. I stepped back and followed Elena.

Stefan surprised us both by blocking our way, as he stared angrily at his brother.

"Stefan? STEFAN?" Elena said loudly, catching Stefan's attention. He stepped out of the way and she stalked off down the hallway.

I looked at Stefan and sighed, hugging him. He started, before looking down at me. He wrapped his arms around me in a hug. I smiled up at him and he smiled back, this time it reached his eyes. "See you at school, Stef," I said and he nodded.

"Stay safe, Clara. Tell Elena I'm sorry?" he asked.

I shook my head. "No way, big guy. You get to deal with that by yourself," I said with a wink. Elena honked her horn and I sighed. "God, I'm coming, Miss Impatient!" I said, as I waved to both of them.

* * *

We returned home, Elena grumbling to herself the entire way. She hurried into the house, leaving me to climb out of her vehicle carefully. She slammed the door behind herself and I rolled my eyes. Stefan was definitely in deep shit with her. As I entered the house I heard their conversation.

Elena's voice was sad and angry at the same time. "He's on the rebound and has raging family issues."

"Well, at least it's an ex-girlfriend. Wait till you date a guy with mommy issues or cheating issues. Or amphetamine issues," Jenna replied.

We all looked up as Jeremy came in through the door.

"Jeremy? Jeremy, where were you?" Jenna asked.

"More stoner stories? Look, Jenna, I get it, you were cool. And so that's...that's cool," he said. Jeremy's voice was sad under the blankness that being stoned gave him. I worried for my little brother, and decided to pay him a visit later in the night when the others were asleep and he'd open up to me more.

"Oh, no, no, no!" Jenna said, before grabbing an apple from the fruit bowl beside us and throwing it at Jeremy, making me wince as it hit him in the back of the head.

"Ow! Why? Why...why did you do that?" he asked, dazedly.

"Listen up! Quit ditching class or you're grounded. No discussion," Jenna said forcefully.

"Parental authority, I like it. Sleep tight," he said, heading up the stairs.

* * *

Later that night, when I heard the house finally quiet, with Jenna's light snores and Elena's light off, I made my way as silently as possible into Jeremy's room. I opened the door and made my way to his bed around the clutter and dirty clothes littering his floor. I climbed into his bed and shook his arm, waking him up. He sat up, eyes wide and alarmed.

"Shhh, Jeremy. It's just me," I whispered to him.

"Clara? What are you doing? It's 2 in the morning," he asked.

I shrugged. "You looked upset this evening. I wanted to make sure you were alright,"I said.

He looked at me for a moment before letting himself plop back down on his pillow. Thinking he'd decided to ignore me, I went to stand up. Jeremy grabbed my arm and yanked me down on the bed beside him, wrapping his arm around me and crying into my shirt. Stunned, I wrapped my arms around him.

I shushed him, running my hand through his hair while he organized his thoughts. "It's Vicky. I don't know what to do about her anymore. I love her, Clara. I do. But she thinks all I want is a fuck-buddy. But that's not it. I feel alive again, when she's with me. It's not just hooking up in a drug haze like she said. She's beautiful, she's smart, she's just...I don't know what else to say," he tried to explain through his sobs. "And Elena and Jenna hate her. Don't think she's good enough. Just like Tyler and his parents. Tyler just keeps her around for someone to fuck. He's never going to choose her to marry or anything. He's too pussywhipped by his parents. You know they're going to make him marry some rich chick with a degree who'll pop out a couple of kids that he'll raise just like he was. And Vicky will be forgotten and heartbroken. And I don't want that for her. I'll fight for her, God knows I will," he said.

"I'm sorry she doesn't see you for the amazing man you are, Jeremy. Because you are, you know. You're smart, when you're not skipping classes and getting stoned. You're extremely talented. I miss watching you draw. I'd love to see you pull out your sketchbooks and draw again, like you used to. But know that this isn't me telling you to do it. You know you always have a choice from me. But I miss my little brother who was also my best friend," I said to him, rubbing his back.

He sighed and pulled me to him tighter. "Stay here with me tonight?" he asked. I nodded and pulled the blanket up around us.

"Clara," he asked.

"Yes?"

"Will you sing for me?"

I smiled. "Yeah, sure, Jer." I thought for a moment before I started to sing the song "Baby Mine" from Dumbo. Within minutes, he was asleep, breathing deeply and letting out an occasional snore. I smiled and turned onto my side, closing my eyes and slipping into sleep easily.

* * *

_Lips slanted across mine, as I felt his hand wrap around my throat. "You grow more beautiful every time I see you, love," said the voice and I looked up into blue eyes. But these were different, a no-less-intense pair of blue eyes, but the color was different, more of a paler blue than the ones I recognized as Damon's._

_Hands roamed my body, as lips slid along my jaw and throat, teeth gently nibbling my ear or biting down softly where my neck met my collarbone. I cried out in bliss, throwing my head back when those same lips clamped down around a nipple, bringing it to a stiff peak that sent throbbing pleasure to my core._

_I felt a hand sliding up my thigh under my skirt and I moaned, my legs clamping together. "Naughty girl," I heard, before he bit down on my throat, causing me to gasp and go boneless under him. He pulled back, lips tinged slightly red with my blood. I arched as he removed my panties and slid a single digit inside me. "So wet and ready for me, love," he said, before sliding another in to join the first. I cried out for him as he began pumping his fingers inside me. Within moments I was close to coming._

_"Not yet, love," he said, as he divested himself of the boxers he'd been wearing. With no other warning, he gripped my hips in both hands, kissing me as he thrust himself as deep as possible. He gazed into my eyes, making sure that I was unhurt. He was larger than I had expected and my body took a few moments to adjust to his size before he could move again. And then he was, pumping his cock deep inside me, as he used his hands to wrap my legs around his waist, his arms on either side of my head._

_"Gods, you're so tight, little flower," he moaned, slamming himself inside my core, making me cry out for him. I felt him tense, steadying himself with one hand as he struck, his head buried in my throat. He drank deeply and I was so caught up in pleasure that I couldn't whisper my assent, only grasp him closer as I climaxed around him, feeling him spill deep inside my body._

_I felt him pull away, then watched as he bit the tip of his finger, running it over the two small puncture wounds in my throat, healing them instantly before kissing the spot where they're been. He laid back on the bed and raised himself up on his elbow, looking me over. He used his other hand to caress my cheek. "So beautiful, little flower," he said. He wrapped his arm around me, pulling me against him and kissing me. I laid my head on his chest and wrapped my arm around him._

_"Sing for me, please, little flower?" he quietly asked after a short period of silence between us. I kissed his chest, where his heart beat, much slower than that of a human's, letting me know he'd had blood earlier that evening. I knew how much he hated silence at times, it made him think of all the bad things n his past. I closed my eyes and sang to him, the same song I had sung for Jeremy._

_"Baby mine, don't you cry._

_Baby mine, dry your eyes._

_Rest your head close to my heart,_

_Never to part, baby of mine._

_Little one, when you play,_

_Pay no heed what they say._

_Let your eyes sparkle and shine,_

_Never a tear, baby of mine._

_If they knew all about you,_

_They'd end up loving you too._

_All those same people who scold you,_

_What they'd give just for the right to hold you._

_From your head down to your toes,_

_You're not much, goodness knows._

_But, you're so precious to me,_

_Sweet as can be, baby of mine."_


	9. The Comet has arrived!

It was finally here, the night of the comet. Many of the townspeople had gathered in the town square. Elena, Bonnie, and Caroline were around somewhere, passing out candles. I stood off to the side, with my camera, snapping photographs of whatever interesting things caught my gaze. The parents who held their little girls on their shoulders, pointing to the sky. *snap* The grandfather looking down and holding his grandson's hand, the little boy's eyes wide with wonder and pointing upwards, while the grandfather's seeing-eye dog lay beside him. *snap* The group of young teenage girls gathered around the telescope a cute young teenage boy had set up. He was more interested in the comet, they were more interested in him. *snap*

Right as I went to take another picture, a dark shadow appeared in my view, someone's chest. Without taking the camera fully awa from my face, I was growling a request for them to move. "Excuse me, I'm kinda taking pictures here. Move, please," I said, before looking up. My face broke into a grin. "Damon! Hi!" I said, letting the camera drop from my hands to be caught by the cord around my neck. I hugged him quickly and stepped back. "Come to enjoy the comet?" I asked.

"Hmm...or something," he said, acting mysteriously. I raised a brow and he smirked. I decided it was probably better not to ask. _Plausible deniability_ , I told myself. "How are you, little Gilbert?" he asked.

I grinned up at him. "I'm fantastic! I remembered something last night. It's been a few days since I've had a memory appear."

He looked surprised, reached over and grasped my wrist gently and led me to a set of wrought-iron metal chairs that were set up in a grouping at the edge of the square, for people to sit and enjoy the sunshine during sunny days. He let me sit down before sitting in the chair next to me.

"Tell me, then. What did you remember, Clara?" he asked, and I was surprised to see that he was truly interested, unlike some of the kids I used to be friends with. They were interested until the memories stopped happening every few minutes. Which is why I dropped them, and secluded myself for the most part. Now I hung around Elena's friends, who had all greeted me with the friendliness of knowing someone for many years.

I smiled at him and realized he hadn't released my wrist. I looked down at it pointedly and he just smirked again and took my hand in his instead. He squeezed it gently as I started to speak. "Jeremy's been getting more depressed lately, and I've been worried about him. So last night I spoke to him, and told him that I missed him drawing. It wasn't until I woke up this morning that I realized that I could see him drawing in my mind. He's very talented. He hasn't drawn since Mom and Dad died." I felt the pain constrict my heart, but it wasn't as harsh as it had been in the past, because it was no longer so new.

I looked up to see Damon smiling down at me. "I'm glad you're slowly getting your memories back, Clara." He leaned down and kissed my cheek, then laughed at my blush. I growled and hit him in the arm. "Not funny, Damon. You're a pretty boy, you know what those looks of yours do to all the girls. And quite a few guys, I'm sure! Don't make fun of me for blushing when you know it's a natural response to someone that looks like you look," I said. He sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Gotta take the fun out of everything. If you weren't so cute..." he said.

I laughed. "I'll have you know I'm fuckin' adorable!"

He laughed out loud. "So you are, little Gilbert, so you are. The very best kind of adorable, with some fire to go with it!"

"Yeah, yeah," I grumbled and stood up. "Come on, you. I've got more pictures to take, and I'm sure you've got some kind of mayhem to create," I teased him. He looked at me thoughtfully for a moment before shaking his head.

"You are entirely too inquisitive for your own good, Clara," he said. He stood and towered over me, making me look up at him, worriedly.

"Damon?" I asked quietly. Then he was looking into my eyes. "You will forget that you've seen me this evening. You will shake off any suspicions you have about me. I am simply just your friend." He said, as I slowly repeated it back to him, the compulsion clearing my mind of our conversation. I blinked and looked around, wondering how I'd managed to end up at the outskirts of the town square.

* * *

"Huh. Weird," I said and raised my camera, clicking a few more shots before I saw Stefan headed my way.

"Hey, Stef!" I called, and he glanced up and smiled, but there was pain, and anger in his gaze. I joined him in walking away from the square, just keeping him company. "Is your sister always so..." he stopped, unable to come up with a word.

"Forceful? Judgemental? My way or the highway?" I supplied.

He looked sheepish. "Yeah."

"Ever since I woke up from the crash, yeah. Now, since I can't remember if she was like that beforehand, I can't tell you. Maybe Mom and Dad mellowed her out when they were around, I'm not sure."

He nodded.

Our conversation was cut short when we saw Matt headed our way. "Teddy bear!" I cried, and jumped into his arms, making both him and Stefan smile. "Hey there, shortcake. Stefan," he acknowledged, nodding his head. He looked at us. "Have you seen my sister?"

"No, sorry," Stefan answered and I shook my head.

"I can't find her," he said. "She's missing."

"I'll keep an eye out for her," Stefan said.

"Me, too, Teddy. Text me if you find her, okay?" I asked, and Matt nodded in reply.

Stefan and I started to walk off, but Matt spoke up before we could leave.

"Hey. I saw you at the hospital yesterday," he said.

"Did you?" Stefan asked, sounding a bit strange. I looked at him, but he was staring at Matt.

"What were you doing there?"

"Visiting," Stefan replied.

"Visiting? You know, Elena and I, we've known each other for a long time. We might not be together right now, but I look out for her. And I'll always look out for her," Matt commented.

I frowned, what was going on with these two? With that last poke at Stefan, Matt walked away. "Well, that was...interesting," I said and we kept walking. Suddenly Stefan's head jerked up and he froze.

"Stef?" I asked worriedly.

He shook his head, as if to clear it. He looked over at me as if he suddenly remembered I was there. "Hey Clara, I've gotta go, I completely forgot something at the house. Will you be okay getting home?" he asked, ever the gentleman.

"Are you kidding? I've got the doomstick! All shall bow down before me and despair!" I said, grinning at him.

"You are so strange," he said, before leaning over to kiss the top of my head before turning and running off.

"You love me because of it!" I shouted after him, and I heard him laugh.

* * *

I made my way home without any problems, snapping a photograph here and there. Jenna was asleep, and Elena and Jeremy were gone when I walked upstairs. I download the photos from my camera to my laptop and received a text from Matt saying that Vicky had been found and she was fine, which was a relief to me. Finally, exhausted, I switched on some soft, soothing "Rain on a tin roof" sounds from my phone's sound machine app and fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning, I joined Elena, Stefan and Bonnie as they walked towards the school. Bonnie walked off just as I made it over to them, the doomstick and a sore hip slowing me down.

"Bonnie, wait..." Elena called after her.

"What's going on?" I asked.

Stefan explained, "She doesn't like me very much."

"She doesn't know you. She's my best friend. She's just looking out for me. But when she does, she will love you," Elena corrected him. "Here's what we're going to do. Are you free tonight?"

"Yes," he answered.

"Perfect. Dinner, our house. 8:00. You, me, Clara, and Bonnie. You two will spend some quality time and she'll get to see what a great guy you are. Mission accomplished," Elena said, with a large smile on her face.

Out of nowhere a football came spiraling right towards Stefan. Before Elena or I could shout at him to look out, he turned and caught the ball. I gasped and knew my mouth had dropped open in shock. Stefan rocketed the ball right back to Tyler who let out a distinct "oof!" when it hit him in the chest.

"Wow!" I said, as we entered the school.

"That throw was insane. I didn't know you played football," Elena gushed, just as surprised as I was.

"I used to. It was a long time ago," he said.

"That throw still rocked, Steffie!" I said, making him smile.

"So why don't you try out for the team?" Elena asked.

Stefan shook his head, "Yeah, I don't think so."

"So you don't like football?" Elena surmised.

"No, I love football. I think it's a great sport. But in this case, I don't think football likes me. You saw Tyler over there, and we both know how Matt feels," Stefan replied.

"They don't know you. To them, you're mysterious loner guy. Wouldn't hurt to be part of. Make some friends," she said, trying to convince him.

"Says the girl who spends her alone time writing in a cemetery," Stefan teased.

"Yeah, Steffie doesn't need friends, he has us," I teased him back, making him grin.

"Hey, come on. There's more to me than just gloomy graveyard girl. There's a whole other Elena that you have yet to meet. She was into everything, very busy," she said.

"Well, I look forward to meeting her. And when will that be?" he asked.

"Yeah, I look forward to meeting her too," I threw my two cents in, earning a glare from my sister before she smiled.

"Soon. She's working on it. "

* * *

Mr. Tanner was in fine form that day, his voice droning on more so than usual. And he seemed to take particular joy in asking people questions he knew they couldn't answer, aka, being "Tannered." "World war II ended in...Anyone got anything? Miss Juan? 1945. "

For some reason he completely ignored my raised hand. The jerk. I knew now he was going to play his favorite game and only ask the people who had a blank or terrified look on their face when he asked the questions. Damn..I lowered my hand. I laughed quietly when I heard Elena and Stefan still whispering about him joining the football team.

"Psst. FYI...Our team sucks. They could use you," she implored him.

"Can't," he answered.

"Pearl Harbor?" Tanner called out.

"I'm a loner," Stefan whispered.

"Miss Gilbert?" Tanner called, causing both Elena and I to look up. Tanner rolled his eyes. "Elena Gilbert," he said, glaring at me like I'd done something wrong in skipping a grade and ending up in the same class as my older sister and having the same last name, therefore making him have to differentiate between us.

"Hmm?" Elena was completely clueless as to what she was being asked and I sighed, rolling my eyes and laying my head down on my desk. This was going to be bad, I just knew it.

"Pearl Harbor?" He repeated.

"Um... "

Suddenly Stefan answered, shocking several people, including Mr. Tanner. "December 7, 1941. "

"Thank you, Miss Gilbert," Tanner said sarcastically.

"Anytime," Stefan said with a nod.

"Very well. The fall of the Berlin wall," Tanner requested.

"1989. I'm good with dates, sir."

"Are you? How good? Keep it to the year. Civil Rights Act," Tanner asked sharply. I raised my head off my desk and sat back in my chair. There was going to be a Tanner/Stefan face-off on dates? Oh, this should be good! I leaned back in my chair, my head going back and forth like at a tennis match at the questions and answers.

"1964. "

"John F. Kennedy assassination?"

"1963."

"Martin Luther King?"

"'68."

"Lincoln?"

"1865."

"Roe vs. Wade?"

"1973."

"Brown vs. Board?"

"1954."

"The battle of Gettysburg?"

"1863."

"Korean war?"

"1950 to 1953."

By now the room had gone absolutely silent and everyone caught Tanner's smile and groaned, thinking he'd finally broken Stefan's winning streak.

"Ha! It ended in '52. "

Stefan shook his head, "Uh, actually, sir, it was '53. "

Tanner glared and looked around the room, "Look it up, somebody. Quickly."

A student I didn't know was the one who had it pulled up on his phone quickest. "It was 19...53!"

Tanner huffed and sat down at his seat. I smacked Stefan lightly in the shoulder in congratulations as I walked past him to get to my next class early, glad I wouldn't have to stay for the last few minutes with Tanner's now frosty gaze and temper.

* * *

Later that day, I sat on the benches in front of the football field, half-watching Matt at football practice and half watching the cheerleaders warm up, and wondering where Caroline was. Elena had already informed me (again) about having supper with Stefan and Bonnie, and I was excited. Elena had planned to pick up some food from the grill, but I wanted to cook, so we agreed that she would pick up the side dishes while I concentrated on making the main dish.

"Seriously, where is Caroline?" I heard Bonnie ask. Elena said something I didn't hear, because at that moment, a beautiful baby blue Camaro pulled up into the parking lot blaring music. My mouth dropped as Caroline stepped out of the car after kissing Damon. He waved and I waved back at him as he put the car in reverse and drove quickly out of the parking lot.

Caroline came strutting by, looking at Elena and Bonnie. "I got the other brother. Hope you don't mind," she said, walking over to the cheerleaders who were waiting for her.

For some reason, Caroline's words made my chest hurt. I frowned and stood, waving at Bonnie and Elena. "I'm going to go home and get a head start on supper to make sure it's good for when Stefan gets there," I said, and started the walk home.

I squeaked in surprise when Horatio suddenly appeared, flying around my head before he landed on my shoulder. "Well hi there, my fine feathered friend. It's good to see you. I've missed chatting with you," I said, speaking to him as I would another person. "Have you been having a good day?" I asked.

Horatio clacked his beak at me and I grinned, taking it as a yes. "Well that's good. I don't have any food for you right now, but just you wait until we get home. I will prepare a miniature feast for you, my friend." Horatio hopped on my head and cawed loudly, as if excited and I giggled. I reached up and smiled when he climbed onto my hand. I tossed him into the air and he flew above me all the way home, making me laugh as he would duck and weave through the branches of trees.

When I got home, I pulled my shoes off and sighed, digging my toes into the soft rug in front of the door. Oh, the relief of bare feet after having them stuck in shoes all day long! I wandered to the kitchen and flung open the window, grinning when the obviously brilliant Horatio fluttered down and landed on the sill. I started singing as I began to prepare the main dish for supper. As I made it, I cut up little bits of whatever I was working with and fed them to Horatio.

We'd be having boneless, skinless chicken breasts that I'd already put into a brine this morning (I'd been planning to make it for supper before I even knew Stefan would be coming). I would coat them with Dijon mustard and roll them in bread crumbs before sauteing them and then putting them into a baking dish to cook all the way through. For extra flavor, I also peeled and sliced several onions and two large Honeycrisp apples into thin slices and layered them in the baking dish under the chicken. I added a bit of water so that nothing would burn, put the cover on the casserole dish, and into the oven it went.

As I cleaned up, I cut the apple peels into shorter pieces and placed them in a pile in front of Horatio. He seemed quite happy and content with his deluge of goodies and I noticed as he took several of them into his beak and flew them to the crook of a tree beside the kitchen window. _He must be building a nest there_ , I thought. Knowing how fond crows are of shiny things, I smiled and reached down, pulling a plain silver ring off my finger. When Horatio flew down again to gather more items, I called his name softly. He stopped and looked at me, his head cocked to the side. For a moment he reminded me of Damon with his head cocked like that, almost inquisitive. I slid the ring towards him and he squawked in surprise, hopping back for a second. I hushed him softly. "Go on, Horatio. It's for you, buddy." He clicked his beak at me, as if saying "are you sure?" I nodded at him and he picked the ring up and carried it to his nest.

I heard the front door open and panicked a little, even though I knew it was only Elena. But I didn't want her chasing Horatio off, like she'd done to the crow at the cemetery. "Bye, Horatio!" I called out quietly, and shut the window. I threw the rest of the garbage away as Elena entered the kitchen.

"Oh, this looks pretty good, Elena. It'll go along great with what I made," I said, as she grabbed the nice serving bowls from the cabinet. "I'll be back in a bit, I'm going to go freshen up and change clothes, cause I got mustard all over these when the bottle tried to explode," I said, making Bonnie and Elena laugh.

I climbed the stairs and pulled my clothes off quickly, tossing them into the hamper. I would have to make sure to clean them myself if there was going to be any hope of getting the mustard stains out. I only hoped my secret weapon (hydrogen peroxide) would work. I took a quick shower in cool water because the kitchen had been so warm with the oven on. I worked a comb through my wet hair and tied it back a braid. I pulled on a simple set of white cotton underwear with a matching white lace bra. A pair of comfortable yoga pants in a dark charcoal grey and a green t-shirt featuring Einstein's e=MC squared equation along with a picture of the brilliant man himself with his tongue sticking out. I was going to be comfortable, by God! I slid simple emerald studs in my ears and my mother's locket around my neck and I was ready.

Stefan was already here when I wandered back downstairs. "Hey, Stef!" I said, and hugged him.

"Good to see you too, Clara," he said, his arms wrapping around me almost automatically.

I pulled back after a few seconds. "How goes it, mon amie?" I asked.

He blinked in surprise. "You speak French?" he asked.

"Apparently so. Found that one out the other night, though I don't recall where I learned it from and I never took classes here at school," I answered. I have to admit, it was freaky when I found out I could speak and understand French. I'd been watching a movie called A Very Long Engagement with Gaspard Ulliel, an incredibly good looking French actor, and Audrey Tatou, a beautiful actress, when I suddenly realized that I could understand what the actors were saying, without utilizing the subtitles. A new little note went up on my wall, along with the one about remembering Jeremy's drawings.

The four of us sat down at the table. "Clara made the chicken, by the way," Elena said, always happy to boast about my cooking, since none of the rest of the family could do much more than a box of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese or warming up a can of soup on the stove.

"Wow, you made this?" Stefan asked, after he took the first bite. I blushed and nodded. "I'm going to have to get this recipe from you, then," he said quietly to me, as Bonnie and Elena were talking. I grinned and nodded, motioning that I'd write it down for him later.

"Why don't you tell Stefan about your family?," Elena said, trying to make conversation between Bonnie and Stefan.

"Um, divorced. No mom. Live with my dad," Bonnie said flatly.

Elena looked ready to strangle her, "No, about the witches. Bonnie's family has a lineage of witches. It's really cool."

"Cool isn't the word I'd use," Bonnie said quietly.

"Hey, I think it's cool, Bonnie. Just think of all the fun you could have with that!" I said, grinning at her. She stuck her tongue out at me and took a bite of her pasta.

"Well, it's certainly interesting. I'm not too versed, but I do know that there's a history of Celtic druids that migrated here in the 1800s," Stefan said.

"Druids? Cool!" I said, wondering if Mystic Falls had it's own stone circle like Stonehenge?

"My family came by way of Salem," Bonnie corrected him.

Stefan's face became a little more animated."Really? Salem witches?"

"Yeah."

"I would say that's pretty cool," Stefan smiled at Bonnie.

"Really? Why?" she asked.

I looked up, wondering at the answer myself.

"Salem witches are heroic examples of individualism and nonconformity," he answered. It was the right answer, because Bonnie all of a sudden wore a great big smile.

"Yeah, they are."

Elena and I looked at each other and smiled. Bonnie was now Team Stefan!

Suddenly the doorbell rang.

"Who could that be?" Elena wondered.

"I'll get it!" I said, and hopped up from my chair and hurried to the doorway, trying not to trip over my own feet or let the doomstick kill me. I unlocked and opened the door and was rather surprised to see who was standing there. "Uh, hi!" I said with a slightly confused smile.

Elena came up behind me to see who it was.

"Surprise! Bonnie said you were doing dinner, so we brought dessert," Caroline said, holding a large bakery box up to show us.

"Oh," Elena said in surprise.

Damon smirked and looked up at my sister and myself. "Hope you don't mind."


	10. Friday Night: Lights, Bites, and Nights

Stefan was suddenly standing behind Elena. "What are you doing here?" he asked, seemingly pointedly at Damon.

"Waiting for Elena to invite me in," he replied. He turned to me and grinned, "Or Clara, of course."

"Oh, yeah, you can... " Elena started to say but Stefan cut her off.

"No, no, no. He can't, uh...he can't stay. Can you, Damon?" he glared at his brother, and I frowned, raising an eyebrow at Stefan's treatment of his brother. What was going on with them?

"Get in here," Caroline said, which kind of pissed me off. You don't invite strangers into someone else's house.

"We're just...finishing up," Stefan said.

"But dessert sounds good,"I said brightly, trying to defuse the tension in the room with the two brothers staring at each other. They both turned to look at me, Stefan with worry in his eyes, Damon with a smirk.

Elena finally had enough. "It's fine. Just come on in," she said, and opened the door so Damon could step through. He took a minute to look around before turning back to us.

"You have a beautiful home, Elena," he said. He noticed a set of pictures hanging by the doorway. "Are these yours, Clara?" he asked. I nodded. "Beautiful," he said, with a smile.

"Thank you," Elena and I said in unison, then looked at each other and laughed.

* * *

We all gathered in the living room with dessert plates of the lemon cake that Damon and Caroline brought. I found that I was a huge fan of lemon cake, yet another note to be placed on my wall later. Somehow we had gotten on the subject, again, of Stefan having gotten a place on the football team.

"I cannot believe that Mr. Tanner let you on the team. Tyler must be seething. But good for you. Go for it," Caroline told him, her fork waving in the air.

Damon smirked and leaned forward, Caroline practically sitting in his lap. "That's what I always tell him. You have to engage. You can't just sit there and wait for life to come to you. You have to go get it," he said.

"Yeah, Elena wasn't so lucky today. It's only because you missed summer camp. God, I don't know how you're ever going to learn the routines," Caroline despaired.

I rolled my eyes. Of course to Caroline, the world would simply end if someone didn't know the cheerleading routines. Damon caught me and smirked at me and I had to stifle a laugh, so I shoved a bit of cake in my mouth to keep myself quiet. Bonnie saved the moment with her own declaration, "I'll work with her. She'll get it."

Caroline sighed and nodded, "I guess we can put her in the back."

I scowled at her just as Damon spoke. "You know, you don't seem like the cheerleader type, Elena."

Caroline just had to open her mouth. "Oh, it's just 'cause their parents died. Yeah, I mean, she's just totally going through a blah phase. She used to be way more fun. Clara too, although she was kind of a bitch." She suddenly seemed to realize what she'd said and to whom. "And I say that with complete sensitivity."

I snorted, anger and grief flowing through me. "Sensitivity? Caroline, you wouldn't know sensitivity if it bit you on the ass. Excuse me, please,"I said, standing and hobbling into the kitchen, carrying the desert plates. I could hear the conversation continue though the open doorway, Damon and Stefan's voices just loud enough to carry.

"I'm sorry, Elena. I know what it's like to lose both your parents. In fact, Stefan and I have watched almost every single person we've ever cared about die," Damon said.

"We don't need to get into that right now, Damon," Stefan replied.

"Oh, you know what, you're right, Stef. I'm sorry. The last thing I wanted to do was bring her up. Mmm," Damon said. I blocked out the conversation, as I rinsed the dishes, preparing them for the dishwasher.

As I put the dishes into the dishwasher, Damon appeared. " One more," he said, holding up a glass. I smiled and reached out for it. "Thanks!"

I gasped when it slipped from my fingers, waiting for it to shatter on the floor. My mouth dropped open when I saw Damon catch it before it hit the floor.

"Wow, Nice save, Damon," I said.

He smiled, handing me the glass. Elena appeared in the doorway. "Nice save," she agreed.

"I like you," Damon said, looking at Elena. "You know how to laugh." He looked at both of us and smirked again, "And you make Stefan smile, which is something I haven't seen in a very long time."

"Earlier, did you mean...Katherine?" Elena asked.

"Mm-hmm," he nodded.

"How did she die?" Elena continued.

"In a fire. Tragic fire," he said, his voice normal, but I could see pain in his eyes. He had loved her, this Katherine, too. My heart hurt for him.

"Recently?" Elena just couldn't seem to stop herself from asking him these questions, and I just wanted to tell her to be quiet. Couldn't she see that it hurt him to answer, no matter how much he was pretending it didn't?

"It seems like it was yesterday," He replied.

"What was she like?"

Damon smiled, the first real smile I'd seen out of him in a while. "She was beautiful. A lot like you in that department. She was also very complicated and selfish and at times not very kind, but very sexy and seductive," he answered. My eyebrows raised at how he was describing his brother's girlfriend. Elena caught on before I did, I'm sad to say.

"So which one of you dated her first?" she asked.

Oh...that makes more sense. No wonder he was so upset. He'd loved her and dated her, too.

The smirk was back. "Nicely deduced. Ask Stefan. I'm sure his answer differs from mine." His mood suddenly changed, as did his topic of conversation. "I'd quit cheerleading if I were you," he said.

Elena and I were both surprised. "Why do you say that?" she asked. I leaned back against the counter, wondering his reasoning, as well.

"Oh, I saw you at practice. You looked miserable," he answered.

Elena grimaced, "You saw that?"

"Am I wrong?" he asked.

"I used to love it. It was fun. Things are different this year. Everything that used to matter doesn't anymore," she answered. I understood what she meant. Ever since waking up, things that I'd been told about my past, things that I had once set such high store by, no longer mattered to me. My family, my art, my friends, those were the things that really mattered.

"So don't let it. Quit, move on. Problem solved. Ta-da," Damon said, his voice lightly joking.

"Some things could matter again," Elena said, almost argumentatively.

"Maybe. But...seems a little unrealistic to me," he said, shrugging.

"I'm sorry. About Katherine. You lost her, too," Elena said suddenly, surprising Damon.

Bonnie suddenly appeared in the doorway, "Hey. Need some help?" she asked.

"Sure, why not?" Damon said, as he turned to walk out of the kitchen. I hobbled after him, and was surprised to find him waiting for me around the bend of the kitchen to the living room.

"Need something, little Gilbert?" he asked.

I smiled up at him and wrapped my arms around him tightly. "I'm sorry too, about Katherine. That you lost her as well, but no one thinks about your loss. I'm sorry they don't see you, Damon. But I see you. You're my friend, I'll always see you," I whispered to him, before pulling back.

He looked down at me, his eyes filled with emotion and confusion. "You are so strange, little Gilbert," he said, and pushed a lock of hair behind my ear. I blushed and shivered as his fingertips glided along my cheek. He leaned forward and kissed my forehead, a small smile on his face. "Thank you, Clara," he whispered into my ear before pulling back and looking into my eyes. "Go upstairs and take your shower and go to bed, Clara," he said softly, his eyes strangely dilated.

Suddenly my brain felt numb and foggy. "I think I'm going to go take a shower and go to bed. Good night, Damon," I said, giving him a soft kiss on the cheek, which surprised him. I waved to the girls and Stefan, bidding them good night. Stefan looked at me strangely, but nodded to me, while Caroline, Bonnie and Elena all called out their good nights to me.

I did as I'd said, cleaning myself quickly with raspberry scented body wash, and washing my hair with matching raspberry scented shampoo and conditioner. I climbed into bed, and was asleep the second my head hit the pillow.

I awoke early the next morning, washing my face and pulling my hair back into a quick twist at the base of my neck. I applied tinted moisturizer, winged eyeliner and a lightly pigmented malachite green eye shadow to my lids. I slicked on some Burt's Bees tinted lip balm in Sweet Violet and walked back into my room to dress. I pulled on a pair of comfortable worn-in old jeans, and a red Timberwolves sweatshirt in honor of the football game later that night. I pushed a pair of garnet studs into my ears and pulled my mother's locket over my head and was ready to go after I pulled on some red-and-white tennis shoes.

Knowing that there wasn't going to be a lot of time for making supper after school, I placed a frozen beef roast into the slow cooker, along with some canned jalapenos, chili powder, cumin, salt, pepper and cayenne pepper. I turned it on low and put the lid on. It would slow cook all day while we were in school and Jenna was at class, but it would be ready to shred that night for shredded beef tacos.

Classes seemed to fly by, the teachers just as excited as the student for the game tonight. Everywhere in the halls were students wearing the school's colors of wine red and sweatshirts and jerseys depicting the Timberwolves. Not a single teacher assigned homework, knowing that win or lose, none of the students would be able to think of anything but the game all weekend.

The bell finally rang to signal the end of the school day. Bonnie drove me and Elena home quickly before she went home to have supper with her Dad. While Elena went to get dressed in her uniform, I made the shredded beef that I'd planned for that morning. I used two forks to shred the meat, like Mom had taught me. I quickly chopped tomatoes, onion, and black olives, shredded lettuce and grated cheese. I yelled upstairs for Jeremy and Elena just as Aunt Jenna walked into the door.

"Perfect timing, Aunt Jenna. Supper's ready," I said, grabbing a jar of my mother's recipe for homemade fresh salsa that I'd made the weekend before after having a massive craving for tortilla chips and salsa. I put everything out on the table as Jeremy and Elena tromped down the stairs. We all sat down and began to eat, talking about how boring our day was with none of the teachers really paying that much attention to what the students were doing. I was just glad that I hadn't gotten picked out for any pranks while walking through the halls alone on my way to classes. Like the doomstick wasn't enough of a disadvantage, all I needed were a bunch of adrenaline-hopped-up teenage boys to decide that I was a new decoration to hang from the wall or something. Apparently Matt had made me off-limits to the jocks for picking on. No wonder I loved that guy!

I had been surprised when Elena came downstairs in regular clothes and not her uniform, but I stayed quiet about it. Cheerleading was her choice, whether she wanted to do it or not was none of my business. Jeremy and Aunt Jenna climbed into her car to go to the game while Bonnie, Elena and I piled into Bonnie's. We sang stupid pop songs and car-danced on the way to the game, all of us laughing at how silly we were being.

Elena went to look for Stefan while I helped Bonnie carry plastic cups and bottles of Gatorade for the cheerleaders to drink after their routines so they wouldn't get dehydrated: a rule Caroline had made up. She carried the grocery bags of Gatorade, while I somehow managed not to kill myself carrying the cups and hobbling along with the doomstick. Thank God it was only another week before I'd be rid of the blasted thing. I helped Bonnie set up and then went looking for my sister and Stefan.

I caught up to them as they were walking towards the field, waving at them. They smiled at me and waved back. Elena must have just found him, too, from the conversation they were having as I finally got to them.

"Ooh. Look at you. You look hot in your jersey," Elena was saying. I gave a "hmm," and walked around him like it was an inspection, he grinned when I gave him two thumbs up. "Thanks, Clara," he said, then turned to Elena, noticing her lack of cheerleading outfit.

"What happened? No more cheerleader?" he asked.

"I quit. I'm a quitter," she said, with a soft huff.

Stefan quickly defended her choice,"No, hey, you're not a quitter. You suffered a great loss. You're not the same person. You should be looking ahead. You should be starting over. Ok? I hope you don't think this is too soon or too weird, but...I, uh, I wanted you to have this."

Elena and I both stopped walking in surprise, and I nearly walked into her back as Stefan held out a box and opened it. Inside was a silver necklace.

"Oh, my God, it's beautiful!" Elena exclaimed.

"Wow, Steffie, you're giving out the jewelry already?" I said, teasingly. Elena scowled at me and smacked me lightly on the arm. "Abuse!" I gasped, making them both laugh.

Stefan smiled and looked at Elena, eyes shining with emotion, "It's something that I've had forever, and, uh, I've never wanted to give it to anyone until now. I'd very much like it if you'd wear it for me, for...good luck."

"Is that rose that I smell?" Elena asked, as a subtle, sweet scent wafted from the necklace.

Stefan was quick to correct her, "No, it's, uh...it's an herb. It's nice, huh?"

"Yeah it is," I said, the scent making me smile.

"I love it," Elena declared. She turned and allowed Stefan to help her put the necklace on.

"And, uh, I wanted to thank you for pushing me to try out for the team. It feels really good," Stefan said.

Elena sighed, "We're a pair. I quit, you start."

"Right. We're a work in progress. We'll figure it out," he said.

I closed my eyes, scrunching them shut as the two of them started kissing. "Ewww! Okay, lovebirds, let's get this show on the road, Stefan's got a crazy Coach Tanner to appease," I said, pushing them along from behind.

* * *

As the sky darkened, Tanner had given his speech about how Stefan was the greatest thing since sliced bread and how he was going to single-handedly defeat all the teams they'd come up against. I know it made Stefan uncomfortable, because he knew as well as I did that the team was going to be rough on him now, they always were to the new guy, especially with someone like Tyler on the team. I swear, his name should be Tyler "Asshole" Lockwood. He seriously needs to have his ego knocked down a few pegs.

I wandered along the walkway towards the concession stands, craving an ice cold cherry slushie. Suddenly I heard shouting and turned, hurrying along as fast as I could when I heard Jeremy's name being shouted. I came up to the ring of students around the fight, pushing through them just as Stefan pulled Tyler off of Jeremy.

"Hey, he's down! Enough!" Stefan shouted at Tyler. I gasped as Tyler hauled back and punched Stefan. I had kneeled down beside Jeremy, but he moved too quickly for me to stop as he reached out and grabbed a broken beer bottle, striking at Tyler. But Tyler moved out of the way and the bottle got Stefan instead.

"Jeremy, no!" Elena shouted.

Matt was suddenly there, pulling Tyler back, "Tyler, knock it off! Stop!"

"What the hell, Jeremy? Put your head up, you're bleeding," Elena said, both worried and angry at him.

"I'm fine!" Jeremy said, pushing her away.

Elena growled out in anger, "Yeah, you smell fine."

"Just stop, ok?" Jeremy said, stomping away.

Matt helped me up off the ground before turning to Tyler and hauling him away. Tyler looked at me for a moment, as if concerned and I scowled at him. He sighed and let Matt pull him along. "Come on, man. Come on."

Suddenly I heard Elena freaking out. "Oh, my God, your hand," she said, staring at Stefan's hand the bottle had cut.

Like a little kid, Stefan put his hand behind his back to hide it. "No, no, no, it's fine," he declared.

But Elena wasn't to be deterred."Is it deep? How bad is it? Come on!" she exclaimed, grabbing his hand and opening his palm. There was nothing there, not a single mark. "But...I saw it, it was... "

"He missed," Stefan said. "It's not my blood. See? I'm fine."

"No, no, no. I...I saw it. The glass cut your hand. It was... " Elena said, looking confused and upset.

Stefan was quick to calm her. "It's ok. I'm ok. It's almost kick-off time, all right? So, um, I'll, uh, I'll see you after the game."

* * *

We both nodded and watched as he jogged towards the field. Elena sighed and looked at me. "It's kind of warm, I'm going to go put my jacket in the car. Do you want to come with?" she asked.

"I'll meet you there. I'm going to go get that cherry slushie I was after earlier, before the concession stand gets overwhelmed with people," I replied. She nodded and headed up the walkway towards the student parking lot. I walked to the concession stand, and got my drink, before making my way up to student parking. I was surprised by what I saw next. Damon was standing by Elena. I could hear their voices carrying on the slight breeze. Something made me stop and watch them, so I stood there, my slushie in my hand.

"You scared me. What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I'm hiding from Caroline," he explained.

"And why is that?"

Damon shrugged, "I needed a break. She talks more than I can listen."

"That could be a sign," Elena said.

"Well, she's awfully young," Damon excused for Caroline.

"Not much younger than you are," Elena commented.

"I don't see it going anywhere in the bigger picture. I think she'd drive me crazy," Damon confessed.

Elena defended our friend. "Caroline does have some really annoying traits, but we've been friends since the first grade and that means something to me."

"Duly noted. I'm sorry if I make you uncomfortable. That's not my intention," Damon said, trying to seem sincere.

"Yes, it is. Otherwise you wouldn't put an alternate meaning behind everything you say," Elena said, annoyed.

"You're right. I do have other intentions, but so do you," he said.

Elena raised a brow at him, "Really?"

"Mm-hmm. I see 'em. You want me," Damon replied. My eyebrows shot up into my hairline. _What? When had Elena ever shown interest in Damon as anything other than Stefan's brother?_ I thought.

Apparently I wasn't the only one who though so. "Excuse me?" Elena exclaimed, shocked.

"I get to you. You find yourself drawn to me. You think about me even when you don't want to think about me. I bet you even dreamed about me. And right now...You want to kiss me," he said seductively, moving closer to my sister. Something in my heart seemed to twist at Damon's words, and my chest hurt. I didn't want to watch what would happen next, but I couldn't seem to make my legs move.

Damon stepped in closer to Elena, staring into her eyes as he leaned forward. Then Elena surprised all of us when she slapped him.

"What the hell?" Elena objected, "I don't know what game you're trying to play with Stefan here, but I don't want to be part of it. And I don't know what happened in the past, but let's get one thing straight...I am not Katherine." She said and stomped off towards the other end of the parking lot.

There was a crumpling sound, and suddenly Damon's head snapped up, his eyes angry. But they changed to something resembling remorse when they saw me. Suddenly as a thought, he was in front of me. He reached down and took something from my hand. I looked down and saw that I had crushed my slushie cup and it was running down over my hand. Damon tossed it away and looked into my eyes worriedly.

Something hot was running down my cheek and I didn't realize it was tears until Damon used his thumb to wipe them away. "No, no, no. Oh Clara, no." He leaned his forehead against mine. "I'm sorry, Clara. But I'm not good for you. I don't want to drag you into all this. I am your friend, Clara, and only your friend. Do you understand?"

I nodded, the tears still coming. I sniffled and tried to smile, but failed spectacularly. "I understand, Damon. I'm just a kid. This is just some schoolgirl crush, right? Besides, I'm no Elena. She's beautiful and kind, and I'm just Clara. The crazy coma girl with the camera." I reached out and grabbed his hand, putting it over my heart, so he could feel the uneven beating. "But why does it hurt so much, Damon, if it's just some crush?" I asked.

As if burned, Damon pulled his hand away, making me look up at him. He looked shocked, and slightly angry. Then he looked sad and regretful again. "You are so much more than that, Clara. You are smart, beautiful, bright, talented. You're pure sunshine. And I am the darkness. I don't want to snuff out your light, beautiful girl." He placed a hand under my chin, raising my face so that our eyes met. His eyes dilated and filled my vision. "You saw nothing tonight between myself and Elena. Do you understand? You saw me and waved hello before you decided you didn't want to stay for the party with the cheerleaders, you just wanted to head home. Go get your Aunt Jenna and go home, Clara." Damon leaned in and kissed my cheek before vamp-speeding away.

* * *

I shook off the brain fog that suddenly seemed to have developed. I realized that all the sugar and the cold from the slushie had given me a headache. I didn't want to hang around for the party after the game. I found Jenna in the stands and we drove home. I climbed into bed and read until there was a commotion downstairs. Elena was home, and I walked downstairs to find out what was going on.

"Mr. Tanner's dead! Some wild animal killed him just outside the locker rooms at the field!" she exclaimed.

"Oh my gosh!" I said. Mr. Tanner was dead? I knew every student he'd ever had had wished him dead at some point or other, but for him to really be dead was a true shock. We sat around with Aunt Jenna talking to her about it for a while longer before we all started to yawn. I hugged Aunt Jenna and Elena good night and climbed the stairs back to my room. I wrote a few quick notes to pin to my wall. "Loves Cherry Slushies." "Corn dogs are awesome!" "Write down more of Mom's recipes from her recipe book into a new one of your own!" I quickly pinned them to their particular spots on the board before I wandered to my dresser and pulled out a long Ivory nightgown with 1-inch thick straps. I tugged it over my head after I had divested myself of my clothes from the day.

I sat down at the vanity table I had found just the weekend before. Jeremy had helped me strip it of the old paint, sand it down a little, then paint it with ivory paint, and we'd found some beautiful antiqued gold drawer pulls that we were able to change out with no problem. It even had a beautiful old mirror attached at the back, with beautiful magnolia blossoms printed along the right side of the mirror. I brushed my hair with care, trying not to snag any tangles. I left it loose and hanging down my back as I used wipes to remove my makeup. I carefully removed my earrings, putting them in the little drawer on the right side. I took off my mother's locket and hung it on the finial of the mirror. I smiled at myself once in the mirror before climbing into bed. I picked up a book, put on my reading glasses and began to read, unsure of when exactly I fell asleep.

* * *

The house was dark and quiet as Damon entered, making no sound. He stood in the hallway between the bedrooms. Elena's door was open, she lay sprawled on her bed, her hair splayed out behind her, dark on the pillows. He stepped forward towards her room before stopping. He turned to the other side of the hallway, carefully opening the door to Clara's room. He smiled when he saw that she had fallen asleep with a book in her hands, sitting up against the pillows, her reading glasses slipped down to the tip of her nose.

He pulled the glasses gently from her face, folding them and putting them on her bedside table. He closed the book, dog-earring the page so she wouldn't lose her place. It was obviously a well-loved book because it was already dog-earred many times. He smiled when he read the title: Gone with the Wind. One of his favorite books as well. He lifted the younger Gilbert daughter carefully into his arms, using one hand to push back the blankets. He settled her into the bed so she wasn't propped so high up on the pillows and wouldn't hurt her back and neck. He pulled the blankets up around her shoulders, and shut off the light. He turned to leave before sighing and turning back to her.

"I'm sorry, Clara," he whispered, stroking his finger along her cheek softly, before vanishing into the night.

Clara opened her eyes, looking around, her heart racing. The room was dark, and sleep quickly overcame her again. She pulled the blanket back around her shoulders and was once again in Morpheus's embrace.


	11. Secrets Revealed

As I wandered downstairs the next morning, I was surprised to see Aunt Jenna glaring at the tv as if it had done her bodily harm.

"To repeat, the animal terrorizing Mystic Falls has been caught." The male news reporter's voice carried from the television.

"Scum ball. Scum bucket," Jenna said, making me raise a brow at her reaction.

Elena joined me in staring at our Aunt, who appeared to have lost her mind for the moment. "Who are you talking to?" Elena asked.

"Him," Jenna said, pointing to the newscaster.

"The news guy?" I asked.

Jenna nodded, "Also known as Logan "Scum" Fell. Did your mom ever tell you why I moved away from Mystic Falls?"

"Oh, no way. You and him? He's cute," Elena admitted.

"Hmm...on a scale of 1 to 10, I give him a 4.6," I said, which made Aunt Jenna smile.

"He is not cute. There's nothing cute about him," She said, trying to convince herself. Aunt Jenna suddenly noticed the box in Elena's arms. "What are you doing with that?"

"I went yesterday and got it from the safe deposit box. Mom had told Mrs. Lockwood she would loan it to the founder's council for their heritage display," Elena said, reminding Aunt Jenna. They started taking objects out of the box, and oohing and ahhing over the history of them. I sat at the table and smiled at some of the beautiful pieces.

"Is that grandma Beth's wedding ring?" Jenna asked, looking at a diamond ring.

"Originally it was great-great-grandma Mary's wedding ring," Elena said, shining it with a cloth.

"Wow," I said, seeing how it sparkled in the sunlight. "Pretty. Shiny!" I exclaimed softly. Elena smiled at me.

Jeremy came up behind us, looking through the box. "How much do you think this stuff is worth? You know, like on eBay?"

Elena huffed, disgusted with Jeremy's question. She grabbed the pocket watch he'd been looking at from his hand and shoved it back in the box. "You're not gonna find out!"

Jeremy was equally upset, "That stuff is mom and dad's. You can't just give it away."

"I'm not giving it away. It's called a loan, Jeremy," She explained.

The doorbell rang, disturbing the imminent feeling of a fight. I sighed in relief as Elena went to open the door. I grabbed Jeremy's hand and squeezed it. He turned to me and gave a little twist of his lips, the closest he'd come to a smile in his current attitude. He reached over and kissed the top of my head (drat being the short one in the family!) before he took the stairs two at a time and I heard his door slam shut. I sighed and put my head down on the table for a moment before I heard a familiar voice from the doorway. I leaned back in my chair just enough to see Elena open the door.

Stefan's voice was just loud enough for me to hear him tell Elena "Hi," before Elena dragged him inside and started to kiss him passionately.

"Oh, eww. Come on, guys! Get a room if you're gonna do disgusting displays of that type of behavior!" I pretend-gagged from my seat. I saw Stefan blush, and Elena rolled her eyes before turning back to him.

"Hi," she said, before they too headed upstairs, to Elena's room.

* * *

_Well_ , I thought, _since everyone else is gone, I'm gonna go to my room, too_. So I used the doomstick to help myself hobble up the stairs and into my room. I started looking for the rest of my book collection and opened the closet door. I rooted around in the back, opening boxes and finding some that I wanted to, technically, re-read, but it would feel like I was reading them for the first time. If I was lucky, maybe they'd spark a memory or two.

As I moved around, I accidentally knocked over a box a little bigger than a shoe box. It was covered in gray-striped black paper and tied with a sparkly silver and black ribbon. The ribbon had come loose when I'd knocked it over and several pieces of paperwork fell out of the box. Intrigued, I turned the first one over and felt my heart stop for several beats.

_**Decree of Adoption**_.

Underneath the adoption decree was a birth certificate, with the name Clara Elisabetta Monroe. It said I had been born in Richmond, but my birthdate was still the same. I read over more of the paperwork. My birth father wasn't listed, but my mother was listed as a Christine Summers. Summers!? I quickly grabbed up all the papers and headed towards Aunt Jenna's room.

Forgetting the niceties, I pounded on her door. I had started crying by now, and I kept trying to wipe them away. "Clara? What in the world?!" she said, then she saw my face. "What's wrong?" she asked, panicked.

"J...Jenna?" I asked, shoving the papers into her hands.

She looked confused as she looked down at the papers, but then her face cleared as she realized what she was reading. She looked up at me and wrapped her arm around me, hugging me to her. "Oh, sweetheart. I'm so sorry. We should definitely have talked about this before now. I just didn't know how to." She said sadly. We sat down on the middle of the bed and she set the papers down on the bed beside us. "Your mom, Miranda, she was the one that was good at all this stuff. Ok, kiddo, here's what I know. Ready?" she asked.

I slowly nodded my head.

Jenna pulled my birth certificate from the pile. "Christine Summers is your birth mother. She was a cousin to me and to Miranda. When she was nineteen, she found out she was pregnant with you. Miranda and Grayson had been trying for years to have a baby before they had Elena, and they were afraid that they would have the same difficulties again, so they started looking into adoption immediately. When Christine decided to put you up for adoption, they were the first family she thought of, because she knew that they would give you a loving home and be able to provide everything that she couldn't. Don't get me wrong, Christine could be mean, selfish, and at times cold, but she loved you as much as she could love someone besides herself. I don't say that to hurt you, I say it because it's what she wrote to you in the letter she left for you herself." Jenna said, pulling a letter from the bottom of pile.

"You've always known you were adopted, it wasn't something Miranda and Grayson hid from you. But it's never changed how any of us thought about you, sweetheart. You've always been a part of this family. You are as much a Gilbert as you are a Summers. You are Grayson and Miranda's daughter. You are Elena and Jeremy's sister. You are my beautiful, intelligent, talented, very silly niece," Jenna said, reaching over and tickling me until I giggled. I threw my arms around her and hugged her as we lay in the middle of the bed, both of us still smiling and having an occasional giggle.

"Jenna?"

"Yeah, sweetheart?" she asked, running her fingers soothingly through my hair.

"Do you know who my Dad is? There's no name listed on the birth certificate?" I asked.

She shook her head. "No, Christine never gave us a name. Only that he had found out she was pregnant, panicked, and split. I'm sorry," she replied.

"No. No, it's ok. I was just curious," I said.

Jenna turned to look at me. "So, are you ready for the Founder's Party?"

I rolled my eyes. "Ugh. Do I have to go? Can't I just say that my leg hurts to much to go?"

"No. If I have to suffer through it, so do you," she said.

I sighed. "Fine, but I don't have anything to wear. We're going to have to go shopping," I said. Jenna grinned at me.

"As good an excuse as any. Besides, you still have, like, months of allowance built up that you never have used. You need to go out and buy yourself some nice stuff!" she said, the money already burning a hole in her purse. "No time like the present!" she said, and stood up.

I sighed once more and nodded, getting up off the bed, piling the papers up to look at later. I glanced at the letter on the pile, and put it on top, to read once we returned from our impromptu shopping trip. I hurried to my room, put the pile of papers on my desk. I dragged my brush quickly through my hair. I grabbed my purse and wallet, stuffing the wallet into my purse. I slicked on some Burt's Bees lip balm, and a few quick flicks of mascara before spritzing on a raspberry body spray. I took one last quick look in the mirror before heading downstairs to Jenna's car with the help of the doomstick.

* * *

The ride to the nearest mall with Jenna was very entertaining to say the least. Jenna had a rather funny case of road rage. Not violent, other than verbally, of course. At one point, during a traffic snarl, Jenna ratcheted the volume up as far as it would go and blasted "Move bitch, get out' the way" as loudly as possible. I slunk down in the seat, giggling uncontrollably, as Aunt Jenna honked the horn long and loud. When another driver turned while failing to use their blinker, she was quick to shout, "It's called a blinker, asshole!" When one woman was clearly driving while on her cellphone, Jenna yelled at her to "Put the fucking phone down and drive, bitch!" At that point I was laughing so hard I could barely breathe.

Luckily by the time we pulled in the lot at the mall, I was able to breathe again, and my face was no longer tomato red from lack of oxygen while laughing. Jenna sighed as she got out of the car, mumbling about stupid-ass slow drivers. We walked into the mall and headed towards one of Jenna's favorite small boutiques.

Jenna found a dress quickly, but I couldn't find a dress that I liked. We'd already been here for over an hour, and other than a pair of beautiful ruby drop earrings, I hadn't found anything.

One of the assistants finally waved us over. "These are some of our newest dresses, we haven't had a chance to put them on the sales floor yet," she said.

I smiled at her and started perusing the dresses. My eyes caught on one and I knew immediately it was the dress I'd been looking for. I showed it to Jenna and her eyes widened. "Oh, Clara, honey, that's perfect for you! You HAVE to get it. Go try it on, see if it needs any alterations, I'll go look for shoes," she said, hurrying towards the nearby rack of shoes.

I stood in front of the dressing room mirror, turning side to side, biting my lip as I looked at myself in the dress. Aunt Jenna was right, it looked as though it were made for me. It was a deep burgundy red, and the design reminded me of what Greek or Roman goddesses might wear. The material was thin and gauzy, overlapping to make the dress opaque but still light and airy. The bust crossed from one side to the other, with a small v-shaped panel at the decolletage of sparkling rhinestones on a golden background. A belt of the same rhinestones went around the waist, and the skirt dropped from it, an opaque skirt with a thin, gauzy layer that fluttered overtop. It hung to my knees and felt swishy as I moved back and forth.

Thrilled that I had finally found my dress, I quickly took it off, and put my regular clothes back on. I handed the dress to Aunt Jenna who took both our dresses to the counter to pay for them. She handed me my bag and we spent another hour wandering around the mall, just for the hell of it, neither of us really finding anything we wanted. We drove home, luckily without the traffic snarls this time, which meant less road rage for Aunt Jenna.

* * *

As we pulled into the driveway, I saw Tyler Lockwood coming off the porch, a box in his hands. He smiled and nodded at Jenna, and stopped when he saw me. "Hey, Clara," he said.

I stopped and smiled back at him, but somehow felt nervous around him. Tyler had proven again and again that he had some major anger issues. He'd stayed away from me for the most part since I'd come home after waking from the coma. I'm not sure if it was because he was afraid or if he just didn't like me. But looking at him now, I didn't know what to think, other than to be wary of him and his quick-change moods.

Jenna went on into the house while I stood there waiting for Tyler to say something. "So, uhhh...is that your dress for the Founder's Party?" he asked, nodding towards the bag in my hand.

I nodded. "Yeah, Jenna helped me find it. Which is a good thing, because apparently after the coma, I'm kind of hopeless at the whole fashionista thing," I said. I noticed that he flinched when I referenced the coma.

"Clara, do you remember anything from before the accident?" he asked suddenly and stepped towards me, the box of things in his arms forgotten. His gaze had become strange, very predatory, very searching.

I shook my head sadly. "I'm sorry, Tyler. All those memories are gone. I'm slowly getting some of them back, but it's going to be a long, slow, exhausting process," I replied.

"You don't remember?" He none-too-gently tossed the box of priceless antiques into the passenger seat of his truck, making me flinch. As if he realized he was scaring me, he reached forward, gently running his hand over my cheek. "God, Clara, I'd never hurt you. I'm sorry I haven't come to see you. I hate to admit it, but I was scared. Clara, the day before the accident, I asked you to go out with me and you'd finally said yes, after months of me asking you. The night before your accident we kissed for the first time," he said softly.

"But...but you're with Vicky," I said, my eyes wide and slightly afraid.

"After it seemed like you weren't going to wake up, that's when I started going with Vicky," he explained.

My mind was reeling. I'd been getting ready to start dating Tyler Lockwood?! I KISSED Tyler Lockwood?!

"I'm sorry, Clara. I know I should have stuck around, but I just couldn't stand watching you lay in that bed anymore. I visited you every day, every day for two months and nothing! Not knowing if you would come back to me. So I started hooking up with Vicky. And that's all it was at first. Just passing time. But I started to care about her, too. But then you woke up. And now I'm so confused, because I care about Vicky, but I can't get you out of my head, either, Clara!" he said. Suddenly his eyes went strangely yellow and he reached out, grabbing my shoulders and pulling me against him. He stared into my eyes for a moment before leaning down and pressing his lips to mine.

I whimpered in pain as he forced my mouth open by gripping my chin hard with his hand. The minute it opened, he was shoving his tongue inside and moaning against my lips. Adrenaline pulsed through me, as well as terror, and I kicked Tyler as hard as I could in a place guys NEVER want to be kicked, and used the doomstick to poke him hard in the stomach. He jerked away, pain in his face as he hunched protectively over his genitals and sucked a deep breath in as he clutched his stomach. We were both breathing hard and I raised my hands up to keep him away as he stood back up gingerly.

"Stay back, Tyler. Just stay right there. Now, I'm sorry I kicked you, and hit you with the doomstick..er, my cane, but you weren't letting me go. I'm sorry that you feel so strangely torn between Vicky and me. But Tyler, I don't poach. You are with Vicky. And truthfully, I think you're good with her. I'm not the same person I was before I went into the coma, Tyler. I don't see you as anything other than a friend, and I'm sorry. I hope you'll let us stay friends though," I told him.

"I'm sorry for scaring you, Clara. I don't know what happened, it was like something inside took over and I couldn't control myself. But yeah, I'd like to remain friends, too. I'm gonna go...ice my balls...put some Bengay on my stomach...and take this stuff home to mom. See you later, Clara," Tyler said, hobbling to his truck, wincing as he climbed inside.

_God_ , I thought, _could this day get any weirder?_


	12. Party Time!

After taking what seemed like forever to get ready for the Founder's Day party, I was finally finished! I'd put the burgundy red dress on, with the gold strappy sandals Aunt Jenna had found for me. I wore the ruby drop earrings I'd bought for myself, as well as my Mom's locket and a simple ruby drop pendant. My hair was pulled up and gathered in a soft, loose bun at the nape of my neck, with a few loose strands here and there that hadn't wanted to stay put. Elena had wound a thin satin ribbon around the elastic holding the bun in place, and clipped it with a red-rhinestone studded clip that sparkled brightly in the light.

My makeup was simple: tinted foundation, because I was amazingly blemish free considering all the stress lately. Black eyeliner brought to a brief wing, topped with an eye shadow that was a glittery mica-infused color somewhere between deep burgundy and plum red. A pale peach blush, just enough that I wasn't too pale, graced my cheeks and hairline to look natural. My lips were stained with a light berry-colored lipstain and a clear gloss topped it. I'd spritzed my normal raspberry body spray on and was ready to go.

* * *

When Aunt Jenna and I arrived we were greeted by the Mayor and Carol Lockwood. "Clara! Don't you look beautiful, sweetheart! How are you doing?" she asked, giving me a quick hug. I'd always liked Mrs. Lockwood, even if she was sometimes rather narcissistic, vain, and fake. She loved her son, and that put her on my good list, and she'd been a true friend to my Mom and Dad, another point in her favor. I returned the hug and smiled at her.

"I'm doing pretty well, thank you, Mrs. Lockwood," I answered.

"Now, sweetie, you know I've told you time and again to call me Carol."

I actually didn't remember, but I just nodded my head. "Yes, ma'am. I'll do my best, but you know my Mom taught me manners," I joked. She smiled and shooed me and Jenna inside. I took off towards the punch bowl, noting that Elena and Stefan were nearby, and that I'd seen Damon around too, along with Caroline speaking to her mother.

The server quickly poured me a small cup of the orange sherbet punch that was typical at these gatherings. I smiled at the familiar flavor, but it didn't bring forth any real memories. I wandered around the room, smiling when I looked up and saw Elena and Stefan entering. They both smiled at me and I walked over to them. "Stefan, you look great!" I said, and hugged him, before glomping Elena. "You look beautiful, sis!"

"Wow, Clara. Your dress is gorgeous!" Elena stated, making me turn in a circle for her. She hugged me again and turned to read some of the placards on the historical artifacts, while I teased Stefan by poking him in the side. He laughed and pulled me into his side for a one-armed hug.

"Are you having fun, Clara?" he asked as we followed after Elena.

"Eh, it's a Founder's Day party. Been going to these things since I was twelve, according to Aunt Jenna. I'm assuming that they're all pretty much the same," I replied. He nodded just as Elena got our attention as she started to read aloud.

"The founding families in Mystic Falls welcomes you to the inaugural founder's council celebration." Wow, look, it's the original guest registry. Look at all these familiar names—Sheriff William Forbes, Mayor Benjamin Lockwood. Is that Damon Salvatore? And, Stefan Salvatore?" She asked, and I bent down to peer at the paper myself.

"The original Salvatore brothers. Our ancestors. Tragic story, actually," Damon said, as if popping out of nowhere..and scaring the hell out of me and making me jump. He smirked at me and I mock-glared at him, making him smile more.

"We don't need to bore them with stories of the past," Stefan said pointedly at his brother.

"It's not boring, Stefan. I'd love to hear more about your family," Elena said.

"Yeah, it's kind of neat, Stef. Can you imagine what it would have been like to be there at the original one?" I asked, frowning when Damon let out a cough that sounded suspiciously like a laugh.

"Well, I'm bored. I want to dance. And Damon won't dance with me," Caroline whined.

"Mm-hmm," Damon agreed, shaking his head.

"Could I just borrow your date?" Caroline begged.

"Oh, uh..." Elena stammered.

"Really, Caroline?" I sighed.

"I don't really dance," Stefan tried to say.

"Oh, sure he does. You should see him. Waltz, the jitterbug, the moonwalk. He does it all," Damon said with a smirk.

"You wouldn't mind, would you, Elena?" Caroline asked, giving Elena the puppy eyes.

Elena sighed, "It's up to Stefan."

For a moment I thought Caroline was going to jump for joy. "Well sorry, but I'm not going to take no for an answer."

I watched in disbelief as Caroline grabbed Stefan's arm and dragged him out of the room. I rolled my eyes and wandered around the room staring at the different artifacts, not really paying much attention to Elena and Damon's conversation, but I could still hear them talking in the background.

As I finished looking, I turned and walked back towards them, just as I heard Damon speaking. "The Salvatore name was practically royalty in this town. Until the war. There was a battle here—"

"The Battle of Willow Creek," Elena cut him off.

"Right," Damon said.

"I know, we talked about it in class." Elena said.

"Confederate soldiers fired on a church with civilians inside," I interjected, entering the conversation.

Damon smiled at me and continued speaking. "What the history books left out was the people that were killed. They weren't there by accident. They were believed to be Union sympathizers. So some of the founders on the Confederacy side back then wanted them rounded up and burned alive. Stefan and Damon had someone they loved very much in that church. And when they went to rescue them, they were shot. Murdered in cold blood."

My eyes went wide and my hand came up to cover my open mouth. **_How_**? How could they murder people who were their friends and neighbors?

"Who was in the church that they wanted to save?" Elena asked.

"A woman, I guess. Doesn't it always come down to the love of a woman?" Damon replied.

"Look, I'm sorry that you and Stefan have this thing between you, but I can't get in the middle of it, Damon. I just...I hope you two can work it out," Elena said, before walking out of the room, leaving me and Damon alone.

"I hope so, too," Damon said quietly. He turned towards me and seemed as if he finally really saw me. "Clara. Don't you look beautiful this evening," he said with a genuine smile.

I couldn't help the blush that stained my cheeks. "Thanks, Damon. It feels weird to be this dressed up. This is the first formal event I've been to since waking up from the coma. In a way it feels both incredibly new and ridiculously the same, all at the same time. Does that make sense?" I asked.

He nodded and stepped towards me. "Help me go locate my date?" he asked, and held his arm out to me. I nodded and put my arm through his and we made our way back towards the main area.

"What'd we miss?" Damon asked.

"We were just chatting. Drink, Damon?" Stefan asked, holding a champagne flute out to Damon.

"No, thanks, I'll pass," Damon said, shaking his head.

I giggled and looked up at him. "Something tells me you aren't stuck drinking the punch like I am," I said. He wiggled his eyebrows at me and took a glass of bourbon from a passing waiter. I smiled and shook my head. Typical Damon.

Elena turned to Stefan, "Stefan, do you have another dance in you?"

"Absolutely," He replied and took her hand, leading her out to the dance floor. I smiled as I watched them.

"They look so cute together," Caroline said. I smiled at her in agreement.

"Don't talk, please," Damon scoffed. I elbowed him in the side and he groaned for a moment. I gave him a joking glare and he smiled at me.

Suddenly Elena went walking by quickly, an angry look on her face. Stefan met Damon's eyes before he turned and walked away. "Uh oh," I whispered. I looked up at Damon who had a strangely pleased smile on his face. "See you later, Damon," I said, and went after Elena.

* * *

I found Elena and Bonnie eating ice cream in the kitchen. "Hey!" I said, and the both looked up at me. "Wow, great dress, Clara," Bonnie said, handing me a spoon.

"Thanks," I replied and scooped up a spoonful of Butter Pecan Hagen Dazs. Super premium grade ice cream, of course, only the best for the Lockwoods. "Mmm!" I hummed in foodgasm pleasure.

They continued whatever conversation they'd been having, Bonnie sounding rather regretful. "This is my fault. I planted doubt. I'm a doubt planter," she said to Elena.

"It's not your fault. I just—I feel terrible because I said that I wouldn't get in the middle of it, and then that's exactly what I did. I got all snotty," Elena said.

"Well, you're right, too, though, Elena. If Stef won't open up to you, even just to tell you about something he likes, that's a lot of stuff to work through. When you're only getting information from outside sources, and he won't approve or deny it, how are you to know what's the truth?" I said, taking another bite of ice cream.

Suddenly Mrs. Lockwood appeared and I quickly hid my spoon and shoved the ice cream into the freezer. "Hi, Mrs. Lockwood!" I said and waved innocently. She smiled at me distractedly before turning to Elena.

"Elena, honey, there you are. I notice the watch still isn't in the collection."

"Oh, um, I'm sorry, Mrs. Lockwood. I, um, I couldn't find it. I guess it's still packed up in my parents' stuff somewhere," Elena told the older woman, while I gave her a questioning look behind Mrs. Lockwood's back. I know she'd taken the watch from Jeremy earlier, she'd told me so herself, and Jeremy's attitude had proved it. Something must have happened while I was getting ready.

"I see. Well, please let me know if you do find it," Mrs. Lockwood asked.

"OK," Elena answered with a nod.

"Well, I'm going to go find Jeremy and get my brother-sister dance in," I said. They both smiled at me and said they'd talk to me later. Jeremy had told me earlier that it had become a tradition for the two of us to dance at least once during these parties, and we had since our first one when I was twelve and he was ten and a half.

I found him standing by the punch bowl and walked over to him. "Ready to dance, Jer?" I asked. He looked up and smiled, and it lit up his whole face. He grasped my hand and we walked out onto the dance floor just as the band began a new song. I smiled as we danced to an instrumental version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". We hugged when the song finished and headed back to the punch bowl, because we were both parched. After two cups of the sherbet punch, which was now getting to the point where it was cloyingly sweet and room temperature, Jeremy headed off to talk to some friends and I leaned against a far wall away from the dancers, but stood watching them.

I yelped when someone yanked me into a private corner. Realizing who it was, I smacked Damon in the chest as he snickered at me and smirked. "You scared me half to death, Damon! Dammit, man, don't do that!" I gasped, still trying to calm my heart. He smiled and plucked a white rose from a nearby vase. He gallantly bowed to me and held out the rose. "I beg your forgiveness. Might I have a dance, my lady?"

"Damon, what in the world? You...I...sure" I sighed, before rolling my eyes and nodding, taking the hand that he held out. I quickly set the rose on a nearby table, hoping no one would take it. He pulled me quickly into a waltzing position, though much closer to his body than Jeremy had held me. I could literally feel his body heat as he stepped close. I looked up into his eyes as a new song began and Damon led me into the waltz. I blinked in surprise when he started singing the lyrics, low and quietly into my ear as we danced.

" _There used to be a graying tower alone on the sea._

_You became the light on the dark side of me._

_Love remained a drug that's the high and not the pill._

_But did you know,_

_That when it snows,_

_My eyes become large and_

_The light that you shine can be seen._

_Baby,_

_I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the gray._

_Ooh,_

_The more I get of you,_

_The stranger it feels, yeah._

_And now that your rose is in bloom._

_A light hits the gloom on the gray._

_There is so much a man can tell you,_

_So much he can say._

_You remain,_

_My power, my pleasure, my pain, baby_

_To me you're like a growing addiction that I can't deny._

_Won't you tell me is that healthy, baby?_

_But did you know,_

_That when it snows,_

_My eyes become large and the light that you shine can be seen._

_Baby,_

_I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the gray._

_Ooh, the more I get of you_

_The stranger it feels, yeah_

_Now that your rose is in bloom._

_A light hits the gloom on the gray,_

_I've been kissed by a rose on the gray,_

_I've been kissed by a rose_

_I've been kissed by a rose on the gray,_

_...And if I should fall along the way_

_I've been kissed by a rose_

_...been kissed by a rose on the gray._

_There is so much a man can tell you,_

_So much he can say._

_You remain_

_My power, my pleasure, my pain._

_To me you're like a growing addiction that I can't deny, yeah_

_Won't you tell me is that healthy, baby._

_But did you know,_

_That when it snows,_

_My eyes become large and the light that you shine can be seen._

_Baby,_

_I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the gray._

_Ooh, the more I get of you_

_The stranger it feels, yeah_

_Now that your rose is in bloom,_

_A light hits the gloom on the gray._

_Yes I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the gray_

_Ooh, the more I get of you_

_The stranger it feels, yeah_

_And now that your rose is in bloom_

_A light hits the gloom on the gray_

_Now that your rose is in bloom,_

_A light hits the gloom on the gray._ "

We both blinked, neither of us having realized just how close we'd gotten to each other, our bodies pressed against each other, our steps completely synchronized, our eyes not leaving the other's. Damon coughed as if reminding himself of where he was. He smiled, raised my hands to his lips and kissed them, bowing over them with a smirk. "Thank you for the dance, Miss Gilbert," he said. He took the rose from the table where I'd laid it and snapped the stem smaller, tucking the rose behind my ear, where it was a bright splash of white against my red hair.

I smiled up at him. "Thanks, Damon. You definitely made it a night to remember," I said, and leaned up, kissing him on the cheek before going off to find Aunt Jenna and go home. We climbed into the car, both of us with smiles on our faces, though neither of us disturbed the quiet ride home to ask why the other was smiling.

Once at home, I carefully pulled the dress off and put it in it's bag to be sent to the dry cleaner's. I took down my hair, scratching my scalp as I let it loose. I plucked the rose from behind my ear and wrapped the satin ribbon from my hair around it. I found a thumbtack on my memories board and pinned the ribbon-wrapped rose on the board, along with a piece of paper that stated the date and "Founder's Day Anniversary party". I removed my shoes, jewelry and used baby wipes to take off my makeup (cheaper than those fancy wipes that are labeled for makeup removal and are the exact same thing).

I pulled one of my favorite giant t shirts from the drawer. It was heather grey, long enough that it went to my knees and about a dozen sizes too big for me. It read: Ask me about my attention deficit disorder. Or pie. Or my cat. A dog. I have a bike. Do you like tv? I saw a rock. Hi." It made me snicker every time I read it. Especially since I always seemed to hear it being said in the voice of Peanut from Jeff Dunham.

Oh lord, it was definitely time for sleep, I was starting to get punch drunk from being awake for so long. I climbed into bed, unsnapped my bra and removed it while wearing my shirt-yes, us girls are talented like that-and tossed it onto the clothes hamper to be washed. I leaned back against my pillows, picked up the book I was currently reading-Call of the Wild by Jack London-and settled in to read. Within minutes, I was deep in slumber.

 


	13. Offerings

It wasn't until the next morning that Elena informed me about what had happened between Damon and Caroline. "She was just so...so completely rattled. I've NEVER seen Caroline like that, ever. I don't want you hanging out with Damon anymore, Clara. At least not by yourself, okay?" Elena pleaded with me. I sighed but nodded my agreement.

"Okay, but I'm not going to stop hanging out with Stefan. He's still my new buddy!" I said as I walked towards Jerem's room. It was also this morning that I learned that Jeremy had decided to spend the night with Vicky in his bed. Which I found out when I opened the door a bit too quickly and got a faceful of half-naked bodies. "Eek!"I shrieked, slamming the door. "Oh my God. Oh my God! OhmyGod! My eyes! My poor, virgin eyes!" I shrieked as I ran down the stairs as quickly as my hobbling would allow me.

"Aunt Jenna!" I cried as I walked into the kitchen. Apparently I wasn't the first one there to inform her about Jeremy's activities. Elena and Jenna stood there, looking up at me as I entered. "Oh. You already know." I said, and rolled my eyes. "I need to bleach my brain, now!"

"He could be craftier about it, at least make an effort to sneak her in and out. Oh, and just so you know, I won't be home for dinner."

"Damn, I was going to make your favorite, creamy mushroom rice and chicken too. Guess I'll just make it tomorrow, then," I said.

"Yes please," she replied and kissed the top of my head as I pulled a package of boneless, skinless chicken breasts from the freezer and placed them on a paper-towel lined plate to defrost in the fridge.

"Oh, so you're actually going to do it. You're gonna go out with Logan," Elena said, with a smirk.

Jenna grinned at her, "I'm going to show up and torture him, yes. And have you heard from Stefan?"

Elena grimaced. "Not since he left that very vague message three days ago. "Hi, um, Elena, I, um, have something I have to do. I'll, uh, explain in a few days."

"Yeah, I got something similar," I agreed.

"Haven't you called him?" Jenna asked.

Elena shook her head. "Nope. Not going to either."

"And you're ok with everything?" Jenna asked.

"No, I'm not ok with any of it. But I'm not gonna cry about it, either. You know, I was going to write in my diary this morning and then I thought, what am I going to write? Honestly, I'm not gonna be one of those pathetic girls whose world stops spinning because of some guy."

"Yeah, way to not be Bella Swan," I said, with a smile. She rolled her eyes at me.

"Ok, then," Jenna said, giving Elena a disbelieving look.

"I'll be fine," Elena reiterated.

* * *

"The sexy suds car wash is tomorrow. The football team and the band have committed. Well, not all the band. Just the ones who could pull off the bikini. I want, in your face, sexy. I mean, it's a fund raiser, for god's sake." Caroline was explaining as I walked up to her, Elena and Bonnie at school.

"Unbelievable. It's like nothing happened," Elena whispered to Bonnie, looking at Bonnie in surprise.

"She's in denial," Bonnie whispered in reply.

"Hey," Stefan said, walking up to us.

I smiled and waved at him, he returned it with a mixture of a small smile and a grimace.

"Hey. You know, I gotta go. Be somewhere right now," Bonnie said before taking off, with a quick look back at us.

Stefan sighed. "I'm so sorry I haven't called."

Elena's face hardened. "No worries. I'll live."

"I was dealing with Damon," he explained.

"And did you...deal with Damon?" Elena asked, an edge of anger in her voice.

Stefan was quick to answer in the affirmative. "Yes. Yeah."

"For four days?" Elena asked, incredulous.

"You have every right to be upset with me. But can I explain it all to you? Please," Stefan begged.

"Sure. When?" Elena asked.

"I gotta be home after school, but The Grill, around four o'clock?"

"Ok," Elena agreed.

Stefan smiled, "Thanks."

Suddenly, Caroline appeared. "Stefan, where is Damon? He has some serious apologizing to do."

Stefan looked uncomfortable, and shifted from foot to foot. "He's gone, Caroline."

"When is he coming back?" she asked.

"He's not coming back. I'm sorry," he answered.

My stride faltered for a minute. Damon was gone? And he wasn't coming back?

"This is a good thing, Caroline," Elena was quick to point out to her friend.

"I know that," Caroline answered quickly.

_Was it?_ I thought. If it was such a good thing, why did my heart hurt at the thought that Damon was gone, and that he'd left without saying goodbye?

* * *

After that, the school day seemed to drag on. Elena made plans to meet with Stefan after school t the grill, but I decided to go home straight after. I climbed the stairs up to my room and started in on my homework. There wasn't a lot since most of the student body was using History class as a study period since the death of Mr. Tanner. In a reflective mood, I flipped through a bunch of my old cds and smiled when I put Evanescence's Fallen cd in the player, the song "Going Under" pouring out of the speakers. I laid back on my bed and sighed, letting the muscles of my body relax one by one. I closed my eyes, my toes tapping to the tune. By the time "Everybody's Fool" began, I was singing along.

A sudden squawk startled me, and I jerked into a sitting position. I grinned when I saw Horatio perched on the windowsill. "I certainly hope that wasn't a review of my singing skills, featherhead," I teased. He cocked his head at me and squawked again. "Okay, okay, I forgive you," I said, standing and making my way to my window. I opened the window and was surprised when he didn't fly into the room. Instead he began to caw at me frantically, and would fly off for a moment before returning.

"Horatio? What's wrong?" I asked,wishing that I could understand him. I suddenly thought I heard something.

"Clara. Help me, Clara."

I frowned and looked around the room, then at Horatio. "Am I finally losing my mind?"

I heard it again. "Clara. Clara, help me, please. Please Clara. Help me."

Frowning again, I turned my music down.

Cawing once more, Horatio took off, and I felt a sudden wave of worry fill my chest. Pushing the feeling away, I laid back down on the bed and was overcome by a wave of lethargy. Closing my eyes, Damon's blue eyes flashed before me, and I heard his voice, begging me to help him. But sleep took me faster than I expected and I was in dreams before I could do more than acknowledge the fact that it was Damon's voice I was hearing.

Somehow I slept through the afternoon and night. When I woke up the next morning, Elena was ecstatic. Apparently Stefan had shown up at the house the night before-after a disastrous meeting at the Grill-and had finally talked about Katherine, and shared about himself. Elena was practically glowing with happiness and I couldn't stop from smiling myself at seeing her so happy.

I drove with Jenna to the Sexy Suds car wash, and Elena drove in her car. I was suddenly VERY glad that I was not on the cheerleading team. All the girls were decked out in bikini tops and shorts. My first thought was "Oh HELL no!" as I looked down at my comfy jeans and "MORDOR RUN" tshirt.

As if reading my thoughts, Jenna started snickering. "You're only helping Elena with the cash. I told Caroline that she was not allowed to try to talk you into anything "sexy" right now. Maybe next year."

"Thank you!" I squealed and hugged her, before carefully using the doomstick to maneuver my way across the soaked pavement without slipping and landing on my ass again. I giggled as I heard Caroline as I got closer to the money booth. "No friend discounts. No freebies. No pay ya laters. We are not running a charity here. No, we are not."

"No we are not!" Elena and I chirped back at her, looking at each other and grinning before turning back to Caroline. She huffed and walked away.

Stefan arrived and wandered over to us. He grinned at Elena. "Hi."

"Hey!" Elena exclaimed, smiling at him.

"Steffie!" I cried, hugging him quickly. He laughed and hugged me back. "Nice shirt, Clara."

"Thanks!" I said, brushing some dirt off the side.

Caroline sneered as she looked over our outfits. "The event is called sexy suds, you know."

When she'd turned away to screech at someone else about something, Stefan turned to Elena and I. "Did we just get scolded?"

Elena nodded. "And judged, yeah."

"Wow," Stefan said, blinking in surprise.

"I'm sorry, but I guess you're going to have to take that off," Elena said, pointing at his shirt.

"I think you have to go first," Stefan said, with a smile.

Elena sighed and nodded. "Ok."

I had to giggle when Elena got caught in her shirt when trying to remove it. Stefan hurried to help her remove it. "Ok, um-sorry, So not sexy. Ugh," Elena said, fixing her hair.

Of course, Stefan was quick with a "I disagree." And of course they kissed. Aww, they were just too cute! I stood and watched them until they turned and looked at me with a look. "Oh. Oh! Sorry!" I said and quickly busied myself with the strongbox and change plate.

A little while later, I was still sitting and collecting money while Elena and Stefan were washing a vehicle nearby. I could overhear the conversation and listened as they talked, since I was pretty bored, otherwise.

"You're getting soap in that," Elena said, nodding towards the ring Stefan wore.

"Oh, it's fine," Stefan replied.

"I noticed that Damon has one, too. Is there a story behind it?" Elena asked. I perked up, I always enjoyed a good story. I hoped this one would be interesting. I was a bit disappointed when all Stefan said was, "Yeah, it's the family crest from the Italian renaissance."

"Hmm. What's the stone?"

"It's called lapis lazuli."

"That's one of my favorite stones!" I called over to him. He grinned at me. "I'll keep that in mind," he said, making me laugh.

"Oh. You should really take it off. I could put it in my bag," Elena offered.

"No, it's...it's fine, really. Thanks, though," he said with a smile.

"Ok," she replied. She looked around for a minute before turning back to him. "I'm gonna get some towels."

"Ok," he replied.

"I'll come too, Elena. There's no one working on any cars but that one and Stefan can take the cash for it," I said, sticking my tongue out at him. He laughed at me and tossed a wet rag at me, making me shriek and hop away from it. Bad idea since I almost tripped over my own feet, making all of us laugh.

Elena and I went to find Caroline. "Hey, we're out of towels and those shimmy things," Elena said when we found her.

"I'll go get some more. Clara, come with me. Elena, mind the money," she ordered. I followed her into the school to the sports department and into the laundry area, but the door was locked. "Keys?" I asked Caroline, who checked her pockets but shook her head at me. Suddenly Caroline stood up straight and seemed to see something.

"Caroline?" I asked in concern. But it was like she was in a trance and she started walking. Now really worried, I started to follow her. I was surprised when we ended up at the Salvatore Boarding House. "Caroline? What the hell is going on?" I asked, as she pushed open a door. I continued to follow her, as we made our way down a set of stairs into what appeared to be a cellar...with a jail cell. "Damon?" Caroline called, and I jerked my head towards her. Damon? I blinked in surprise when I heard Damon's voice coming from the cell.

"Caroline, help me. Caroline. Help me."

"Damon? Damon? Damon? Oh, my god! What is this? How did I know that you were here?" Caroline asked, looking inside at him.

Wait? Damon? But...Stefan said he'd left. What the HELL was going on here!?

"Because I wanted you to. Very, very badly. Let me out of here. Please," he pleaded as he stood shakily. I peered over Caroline's shoulder at him and gasped at how sickly he looked.

"Are you okay, Damon?" I whispered. His eyes widened for a second when he saw me, but he turned back to Caroline.

"You bit me," Caroline said, undecided.

"You liked it. Remember?" Damon asked, putting an odd tone into his words.

_Eww! I didn't need to know this!_ I thought. My attention was grabbed by Caroline who was shaking her head as if trying to clear it.

"Why do I keep remembering the same things, but in different ways?"

"You remember what I want you to remember. And now that the vervain has passed out of your system, you won't remember what you're about to do."

"What am I about to do?" Caroline asked, and I peeped my head up to where I could see Damon too.

"You're gonna open the door. You're gonna open the door," he said.

I suddenly felt nervous and bit my lip as Caroline reached down and pulled back the lock on the cell door.

I gasped as a hand grabbed me and pushed me out to the way. I landed on my knees, and looked up to see Zach Salvatore there, he grabbed the cell door and tried to hold it.

"No! No! Get out of here. Run! Run!" he screamed at Caroline and I.

And then I was the one who screamed as Caroline took off running, leaving me behind as Damon pushed through the doorway, snapping Zach's neck. He looked at me consideringly for half a second before going after Caroline. I knelt beside Zach's body for I don't know how long before Damon appeared before me. I gasped and jerked back from him.

"Wh..why?!" I asked, tears still filling my eyes. "You didn't have to kill him!"

Suddenly he was looking into my eyes, his pupils dilating. "He was trying to kill me, Clara. Why do you think he had me in that cell?"he asked, and I sniffled. "It's okay, Clara. I'm still your friend. You aren't afraid of me. I'm not going to hurt you. Do you understand?"

Suddenly feeling better, I nodded. "What's going on, Damon...what...what are you? Because what you just did, isn't normal."

He sighed and pulled me away from Zach's body and into his arms, princess style. Within the blink of an eye, we'd moved from the dank and dusty cellar to the parlor he'd been in when Elena and I had come here the first time. He carefully pulled all the drapes closed after setting me gently on the couch. He poured himself a glass of bourbon and sat down next to me. I pulled my legs under me and turned to face him.

"I'm a vampire, Clara," he said without any leadup or anything. Just straight and to the point.

"A vampire?"

He nodded, taking a sip of his drink. "I was turned in 1864, by Katherine Pierce."

"Wait. Katherine? The Katherine you told me and Elena about? But you made it seem so recent?" I asked, confused.

"Some days it feels like yesterday," he said, and there was pain in his eyes. I sighed and leaned against his shoulder.

"But how do you walk in the sunlight? And thank God, you don't sparkle!"I said with a giggle.

He grimaced at the sparkle reference. "Edward Cullen is so whipped. And no, I live in the real world, where vampires burst into flame in the sun. But to answer your question, Stefan and I have rings to protect us. Which that little bastard stole from me," he said, showing me his bare hand. I frowned, and he continued speaking, "And I'm starving, and now I have to wait until the sun goes down to get fresh blood!" he growled.

Without really thinking, I raised my arm, wrist towards him. "No, you don't."


	14. First Temptation?

"No," Damon said, jerking away from me. I frowned and offered my arm again. "No, Clara, I won't do that. Not to you!" he said and stood up, moving away from me to stand by the fireplace.

I stood, too, and offered my arm out to him again. His face changed, dark veins appearing beneath his eyes, his eyes going black. "Stop trying to tempt me!" he shouted.

"I'm not trying to tempt you! I'm trying to be your friend, Damon, and offer you a small amount of blood to hold you until you can go and get your own!" I shouted back at him.

He was obviously taken aback, his face returning to normal. He vamp-sped to me, and looked down into my eyes. "You don't care that I'm going to go out and kill someone?" He asked.

I shook my head no. "You have to eat, just like the rest of us. Do I wish you preyed on animals, like Stefan, yes. Would I ever ask you to do it when I know you don't want to? No, never. And it's not that I don't hold life sacred, either. But I don't know them. I do know you, and you are my friend, Damon, whether you think you are or not. And I don't want to see my friend suffering from hunger when I can offer you some blood here and now." I said, and held out my arm one last time.

He growled and picked me up bridal style and sat down on the couch with me on his lap. He grasped my arm, lifting it to his mouth. He watched my face as his face changed and he slowly bit down into my arm. I won't lie, it hurt like a bitch, and I bit the inside of my cheek hard enough to bleed, to keep myself from flinching. I could feel him draw the first mouthful of blood into his mouth, and I blushed when he let out a harsh moan and his grip on my arm tightened.

After a few moments, he seemed to force himself away from my arm. He looked up at me, as if to make sure I was okay. I smiled at him, and he raised a hand and ran it along my cheekbone, making me blush at his touch. "You are an incredible girl, Clara. Thank you, for this gift," he said and turned back to my arm. He licked the little bit of blood that had leaked from the bite before biting down on his thumb and running the blood over the two punctures. They disappeared in seconds, as did the wound on his thumb.

"See, good as new!" I said, and tried to stand up. "Whoa!" I said, sitting right back down in his lap. "Wee bit dizzy!" I said with a laugh. He grinned at me and laughed too. He picked me up and put me on the couch next to him. He vamp-sped to the kitchen and within a blink was back, holding out a glass of juice.

"It's cranberry, hope you don't mind," He said.

"Heck no! Cranberry's one of my favorites!" I said and sipped the juice. "Are you feeling any better?" I asked him.

"I think I should be asking you that," he said softly.

"Damon, I'll be fine. It was just a little blood. I'd be giving more at a blood drive than what you just took." I said and looked up at him. He took the finished glass from me and put it on the table.

He looked at me and shook his head. "You are so strange, little Gilbert. But for now," he said, standing and looming over me, his eyes beginning to dialate. He was surprised when I put a hand on his chest to stop him.

"You don't have to glamour me, Damon. I know, I shouldn't be here when Stefan gets here. I'll pretend like I don't know about vampires, for a while, anyways. I'm sure he'll be telling Elena soon, that girl's like a dog with a bone when something sparks her interest. And I'm pretty sure that a few things have made her wary about Stefan's actions," I replied. He blinked in surprise but nodded.

"Go home and rest, Clara. Even if it wasn't a lot of blood, it was enough that you do need to rest," Damon said. I nodded and leaned forward, hugging him. It took a moment, but I felt his arms wrap around me as well, pulling me closer. "Thank you, Clara," he said.

"For what?" I asked, peering up at him.

"For being my friend," he whispered into my ear, chuckling when it made me shiver. I glared at him and poked him in the side.

"You're welcome, Damon. Be safe. I hope you get your ring back from Stefan soon. I think I'm gonna go home, make some supper and wait for the vampire revelation!" I said, winking at him. He chuckled and walked me to the door. We were both relieved that the sun was beginning to sink down into the clouds.

He turned to me with a grin, "Let the fun begin," he said and kissed my forehead before zipping away. I sighed and made my way home. I entered the kitchen and looked at the clock, surprised to see that it was just 5:30; after this afternoon, it felt like it should be so much later. There was a tapping on the window glass and I smiled when I saw that Horatio was perched on the windowsill. "Hello, my friend. Are you hungry?" I asked. He clacked his beak and let out a loud "caw!"

"Gonna take that as a yes," I said. From the refrigerator, I pulled out the chicken breasts I had allowed to thaw the day before. Using a plastic, washable (bleach-able!) cutting board, I quickly cubed the chicken breasts, tossing them into a bowl. I put the cutting board immediately into the dishwasher, and took out another cutting board and a new knife for the rest of the ingredients. I chopped two large pint containers of mushrooms, a large onion, two large green bell peppers, peeled and sliced two large carrots and added it all to the bowl with the chicken. I mixed in two cans of cream of mushroom soup, one can of water, one can of milk and stirred it together really well. I poured it all into the slowcooker and set it on high. I took the carrot peels, the scraps of mushroom and bell peppers, and two smaller pieces of diced chicken and placed them on the wide windowsill for Horatio to gobble up while I finished cleaning up.

While the chicken mixture cooked, I sat at the kitchen table and worked on a hand-written essay on Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester's relationship, and his relationship with his first wife, the insane and hidden away Bertha, that was due in a few days, it had to be at least two thousand words. I became so immersed in my essay that I was startled when Jenna came home. I looked at the clock, which said 8:12p.m.

"Hey Clara," Jenna said, kissing the top of my head. She peered over my shoulder and read the first few lines of my essay, smiling as she did so. "Wow, great points, sweetheart. Is supper ready?" she asked.

"I got so involved with my essay, I forgot the time. But it should be almost done. Give me, say, twenty minutes?" I asked.

"Sounds good, I'm going to go upstairs and change into something comfortable," she replied and headed upstairs.

I closed my history book, carefully marking my page and putting it and my notebook into my backpack. I put the backpack next to the door, and moved to put a pot of water on the stove to boil. I checked the chicken mixture. It looked and smelled wonderful. I checked it for seasoning, adding a little salt and some black pepper, along with some garlic powder and onion powder to enhance the sauce. When the water came to a boil, I added 2 cups of parboiled rice to the water, cooking it according to the package directions. That was something both Jenna and I agreed on, we didn't like our rice "al dente", we liked it fully cooked and completely soft, almost overblown. When the timer went off, I scooped out the rice, adding it into the slowcooker and mixing it with the chicken, vegetables and sauce. I opened a can of corn and a can of Italian-style green beans, draining them and rinsing them from their liquid before putting them into bowls with a little butter and salt and pepper and microwaving them until they were steamy-hot.

"Aunt Jenna! Jeremy! Supper is ready!" I called up the stairs. I dished up the chicken-and-rice mixture onto their plates, along with the steaming corn and green beans. Jeremy came down looking rather morose and I played keep-away with his plate until he smiled for me. He kissed me on the cheek before taking the plate and sitting at the table. Jenna came down a few seconds later, and took her plate. She also kissed my cheek and sat down. I gathered my plate last, knowing that Elena wasn't going to be joining us anytime soon, as I figured she was probably driving herself crazy trying to figure out what was going on with Stefan.

When everyone was finished eating, I picked up the plates, silverware and drinking glasses and put them into the dishwasher. I put the remaining chicken-and-rice mixture in a large bowl for leftovers, and did the same for the vegetables. I put the slowcooker in the sink to soak in hot water for later, and placed the bowls and everything else in the dishwasher and started it.

Suddenly my phone beeped, signalling a text message. I opened it to find an unknown name and number, but from the message, I knew it was Damon.

DS: **Found a meal. Thanks again, little Gilbert.**

I texted him back quickly.

CG: **Glad to hear it. Hope they were tasty. ;)**

I could almost hear him chuckling, after staring at it open-mouthed for a moment, I imagined. I wasn't lying to him when I told him that I held his life more important than someone I didn't know. I know it's probably selfish to feel that way, but I couldn't help it. I sat on the sofa in the living room to relax, turning on the TV to a rerun of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I was a huge fan of the Harry Potter series, and I loved Gary Oldman as Sirius Black. I settled back into the couch to watch the movie.

Just as the end credits started to roll, Elena came slamming into the house, startling me and causing me to yelp. I could practically see her mind whirring away trying to figure things out. She looked around the room as if searching for something, answers perhaps, before she opened the door again, and I called out to her. "Wait up, 'Lena!" and she turned back to me. "You need to stay here, Clara," she said.

"No way! Whatever's going on, it's got you worked up. You're in no condition to drive right now! I'm coming with you!" I said, grabbing my jacket as it began to pour down rain.

We climbed into Elena's SUV, and I drove as carefully as possible on the rain-slicked roads. I pulled up in front of the Salvatore Boarding house and got out of the car with Elena. Just as she went to knock, the door was yanked open by Stefan, who was holding a stake in his hand.

Elena was the first to speak and she stared at Stefan before saying what she came to say. "What are you?"


	15. Ignorance is Bliss

"What are you?" Elena asked. "What are you?" Her voice raised as she started to panic again.

'Stefan looked resigned and sad as he looked at my sister. "You know."

Elena shook her head, and I looked back and forth between the both of them, keeping my promise to Damon and pretending like I didn't know what was happening. "No, I don't."

"Yes, you do, or you wouldn't be here," Stefan replied.

"It's not possible. It can't be," Elena said.

"What? What's not possible?" I asked, still playing along, making myself go wide-eyed and afraid.

Stefan looked at me sadly before turning back to Elena. "Everything you know...And every belief that you have is about to change. Are you ready for that?"

Elena seemed to take a second to steady herself, before asking once more, "What are you?"

"I'm a vampire."

Elena grasped my hand and shook her head in shock, " I shouldn't have come."

"No. Please," Stefan begged, but to no avail. Elena turned and ran, dragging me along with her, but Stefan appeared in front of us, making Elena gasp and I just stared in my playing-along wide-eyed stare. "No. No. How did you do that?"

"Please don't be afraid of me," Stefan begged again.

"I'm not afraid, Stefan," I said softly and he smiled at me before turning back to Elena.

"Let me go," She said. "Let us go."

"No. Elena, there's things that you have to know and understand," he tried to explain.

"Like what?" I asked, but Elena spoke louder. "Let me go!"

Stefan looked so sadly at her as he tried to explain. "Elena, please."

Elena yanked me to the car, opened my door and shoved me inside, locking the doors as soon as she'd run around to her side of the car and got in. I placed my hand on the window to show Stefan that I still believed in him, and he watched us drive away.

* * *

When we reached the house, Elena and I went to her room. I sat on the bed with a towel wrapped around my wet hair, while she proceeded to have a freak out. We both gasped as Stefan suddenly appeared in the room.

"Elena," he began, but she tried to run out of the room, but Stefan got there first and shut the door, cornering her against it."I would never hurt you. I would never hurt Clara. You're safe with me," he told her.

Elena wasn't believing it. "All those animal attacks, those people who died... " she cried at him.

"No. That was Damon!" Stefan said, shaking his head. That caught both of our attention.

"Damon?" Elena asked.

"Yes. I don't drink human blood. That's not how I choose to survive, but Damon does! I'll explain everything to you, but I beg you, Elena, Clara, do not tell anybody." Stefan pleaded.

"How can you ask me that? Ask _us_ that?"

"Because you knowing this is dangerous for so many reasons. You can hate me, but I need you to trust me," he begged again.

I stood up and smiled at him, making him turn to me. "I trust you, Stefan." He nodded at me and turned back to Elena. But she was still being stubborn and was afraid.

"Just go. Just go, please. Go. If you mean me no harm, then you'll go!" she begged him. I felt so sorry for him when I saw the look on his face. He was heartbroken.

"I never wanted this," he said, before leaving.

I turned back to Elena. "That was kind of mean, 'Lena." I whispered before walking back to my room. She slammed the door behind me and I heard her sobbing. Great, now I felt like a total bitch, too. I sighed and wandered back to my room, pulling my wet clothes off, tossing them into the hamper and pulling on a dry nightshirt and shorts. I climbed into bed and put my phone on the charger. Before I fell asleep, I sent a text to Damon.

CG- **Elena knows. She freaked on Stefan. This should be interesting**.

I was almost asleep when the phone dinged, letting me know I had a new message. I smiled when I saw it was from Damon.

DS- **Good. Now to get my ring back from Stefan. Sweet Dreams, Little Gilbert**.

I smiled.

CG- **Night, Damon. Stay Safe. Don't drain the town while I sleep. ;)**

DS- **No promises. ;)**

I laughed at his last message, and fell asleep with a smile on my lips. Neither Elena or I knew that Stefan kept watch over the house, over us, all night long.

* * *

When I woke the next morning, I had a message from Stefan and one from Damon. Damon's simply said:

DS- **Come over around 10a.m**.

Well, it wasn't like I really had any plans for today, anyways. Besides, he still didn't have his ring, I was guessing, and was going to be stuck inside all day.

CG- **Okay. See ya soon**.

The message from Stefan was a bit surprising.

SS- **Elena messaged me, wants to have a meeting**.

CG- **That's good, though, right**?

SS- **Come with her? I think it would make her feel safer, and I know I'd enjoy the support. :)**

CG- **Sure! Can't stay long, though, meeting a friend later**.

SS- **Sounds good. Thanks, Clara-belle.**

I giggled when he remembered the nickname he'd given me, what seemed like such a long time ago.

CG- **No problem, Steffie!**

I stood up and stretched, before walking over to my dresser. I pulled out a pair of comfortable jeans and a black shirt with white lettering that read, "A day may come when my love for Middle-Earth my fail, but it is not this day!" with a picture of the White Tree of Gondor in the middle. Also grabbing clean panties and a bra, I walked into the bathroom and took a quick shower. The room soon filled with the scent of raspberries from my bodywash, shampoo and conditioner, and my (rather loud) singing. I toweled off, blow-dried my hair and put on my clothes.

I sat down at my vanity and put on my mother's locket, put a pair of rainbow CZ studs in my ears, and put on a quick layer of tinted moisturizer. Deciding to add a little more "war paint" as Aunt Jenna calls it, I lined my eyes with a smoky purple liner, a similar shade of purple shadow, with lavender and plum accents were added next. Thickening and curling mascara along with a berry-colored lip stain finished my eyes and lips. With the tinted moisturizer, I didn't feel the need for blush, goodness knows I blushed enough without needing to add to it.

I stuffed my wallet and my phone in my pockets and was just pulling no my shoes when there was a knock at the door. I opened it and wasn't too surprised to see Elena standing there. "Hey," she said softly.

I smiled and hugged her, which seemed to break the worry she was holding. "Hi, 'Lena. Sorry about last night."

"Yeah, about that. I'mmeetingStefanandwaswonderingifyou'dcomewithme?" she mumbled.

"What was that, Miss Mumbles?" I asked, with a grin.

She grumbled and smacked my shoulder. She cleared her throat," I _SAID_ , I'm meeting with Stefan at the Grill and I was wondering if you'd come with me?"

"Sure, I'd be happy to. Can't stay long though, I'm meeting a friend later," I said.

She looked relieved. "Great. Thanks, Clara."

I nodded and she hurried to get ready. Twenty minutes later we were at the Grill and sitting down with Stefan. I sat between the two of them, as a buffer, something I think both of them were grateful for. Elena stared at Stefan before she began.

* * *

"You said you would explain everything. That's why I asked you to meet me here. When you Google "vampire" you get a world of fiction. What's the reality?" She asked.

"I can tell you whatever you wanna know," he answered sincerely.

"I know you eat garlic," she said.

"Yes," Stefan said with a nod.

"And somehow, sunlight's not an issue," she continued.

We all stopped as the waitress arrived. I was the only one who smiled at her.

"Hi, here are your drinks," she said, placing cups of coffee in front of Elena and Stefan, and a to-go glass of iced lemonade in front of me. "Thank you," I said, taking a sip.

"Thank you," Elena say, nodding at the waitress, who walks away. Stefan continues, "We have rings that protect us."

I watched them go back and forth, Stefan giving Elena basically the same information that Damon had given me.

"Crucifixes?"

"Decorative," Stefan answered.

"Holy water?"

"Drinkable," Stefan returned, and I smiled at his answer. He gave me a half-smile before Elena's next question.

"Mirrors?"

"Myth," he answered.

"Damn. That one could have been fun!" I said, giggling.

Elena glared at me before continuing, "You said you don't kill to survive."

"Animal blood keeps me alive, but not as strong as Damon. He can be very powerful," Stefan answered.

"And yet you let him get involved with Caroline?" Elena exclaimed.

"Forcing Damon not to do something is much more dangerous, believe me," Stefan replied.

"He was hurting her!" Elena was enraged.

"He was feeding on her. He was able to take away her memories of being bitten using a form of mind compulsion. She never knew what was happening to her. If he wanted to kill her, he would have," Stefan said, trying to calm her.

"Is that supposed to make it ok?" she cried.

"No. No, none of this is ok, Elena. I know that," Stefan said, leaning towards her, trying to get her to understand.

But Elena wasn't finished yet. "Are there any others, aside from you and Damon?"

"Not in Mystic Falls; not anymore," Stefan said, shaking his head.

That caught both our attention. "Not anymore?" we asked in unison.

Stefan sighed and answered,"There was a time when this town was...very much aware of vampires, and it didn't end well for anybody. That's why it's important that you don't tell anyone."

I of course, instantly agreed, nodding my head in affirmative. But Elena, of course, had to be difficult! "I can't promise that."

"Elena...Give me today. I will answer any questions that you have, and when it's over, you can decide for yourself what you wanna do with what you know. It'll be your choice," he begged her.

I glanced at my watch. It was almost ten. "Oh. Guys, sorry to leave you like this, but I've got plans with a friend. I'll see you both later, okay?" I hugged them both as I left, taking my to-go glass of lemonade with me.I was honestly surprised neither of them asked who I was meeting with. I can only imagine the hell that would have been raised if either of them knew I was meeting with Damon! I walked to the boarding house and entered without knocking, knowing Damon would have heard me coming.

* * *

As I entered the parlor,I saw a body laying on the couch. I gasped when I recognized Vicky Donovan, Jeremy's girlfriend. "Vicky?"

I noticed Damon coming in, avoiding the windows, a phone to his ear. I sat on a chair and listened as Damon left a message on Stefan's voicemail. "Where are you, Stefan? I'm trapped at the house, and I'm getting really bored and really impatient, and I don't do bored and impatient. Bring me my ring. Damn it." He grumbled and poured himself some bourbon.

He saw me and smiled before something caught his attention and he looked over at Vicky "Aw, don't get blood on the couch! Please?" He walked over, sat on the coffee table, moving the cloth at Vicky's neck and smiled. " I got you good, didn't I?"

Of course, Vicky was still unconscious and didn't answer. Damon drank down his bourbon and sighed. "Well, you're not gonna be any fun today." He waited a moment before I heard him say, "I'm so gonna regret this."

I watched, sitting up straighter as Damon bit his wrist and put it to Vicky's mouth. She struggled for a moment but finally gave in, drinking from his wrist. "Drink up. Drink it up. Don't drip. There you go. Good girl. That's it," he murmured as he rested his head on top of hers as she drank.

"Damon, are you sure this is a good idea?" I asked. He looked at me and grinned.

"I guess we'll find out," he said, and walked over to the stereo, turning it on. "Now, come dance with me, Clara!" he said, dancing over to my chair. He gripped my hands gently and pulled me out of the chair. I rolled my eyes and grinned, before he wrapped one arm around my back and took my other hand and held it up in a classic dance position. A swing-style song came on and the two of us laughed as we did a strange mix of swing, fox-trot and waltz around the room while we waited for Vicky to come back to the land of the conscious.

When she finally did, Damon sent her upstairs to take a shower, since she smelled of smoke and cheap alcohol. While she showered, Damon put on some more music and I went into the kitchen to make something to eat. Damon followed me in as I opened the refrigerator door and looked inside. "Not much in there," Damon said, shrugging his shoulders. "Zach and Stefan are kind of the perennial bachelors. Which is ridiculous, because I know Stefan can cook."

I glanced up at him at that. "Yeah, he cooked for Elena one night. I think there's enough in here I can make my mom's recipe for potato soup. It's only a few ingredients, but really filling. If that's ok with you?" I ask.

He scoffed. "Have at it. Just know one of these days, I'm going to have to cook for you, show you what a real cook can do," he said, throwing a wink my way and making me laugh. "Just so you know, I'm partial to men who know how to make a good pasta bolognese!" I told him.

I began to grab the ingredients I knew I would need from memorizing my mother's recipe: potatoes, onions, celery, cream and butter from the refrigerator. Damon sat on a stool at the island and watched as I peeled potatoes and onions, dicing the onions and chopping the potatoes into large chunks. I sliced the celery and put a large pot on the stove. I added a little butter, and some olive oil that was already on the shelf above the stove. I let the oil heat up before adding the onion and celery. I cooked them until they were translucent before adding the potatoes and cold water to the pot. I placed the lid on the pot and brought the soup to a boil before reducing it to a simmer.

Just as I replaced the lid on the soup, Vicky came down the stairs in just her panties and a tank top, rubbing her hair dry with a towel.

"Oh, man. That shower was so great. What did you give me?" She asked Damon.

"Some blood. You loved it."

"I did? Wait. I'm confused. How did we get here?" she asked, looking around the room.

"We met in the woods. You were drunk. I attacked you. Then I killed all of your friends and brought you here, gave you same blood. You loved it. And now we're gonna party till the sun goes down," Damon said, grinning at her and then me.

"Ok. Um, but first, can I have another hit? That blood was so good."

Damon smirked, "Only if I can."

I watched as once again, Damon bit his wrist and gave it to Vicky, but this time, Vicky was giving her wrist to Damon to drink from as well. I followed the two of them into the parlor and watched as they danced around, while I read from a beautifully bound copy of Oliver Twist. I laughed when Damon was suddenly dancing on the balustrade around the upper floor of the house and motioned for me to join him. "Not a chance, darling. Fear of heights!" I called up to him. He gave me puppy dog eyes and I blew him a kiss, which he pretended to catch and put in his pocket. I giggled and shook my head at him, returning to my book. Soon, the scent of my soup started wafting through the house and I returned to the kitchen. I heard Damon and Vicky making some kind of a ruckus upstairs.

"Probably tearing something of Stefan's up, if I know Damon," I muttered to myself. The soup was done, the potatoes, onions and celery soft and cooked through. I pulled two large slotted spoonfuls of the potatoes up, placing them in a large bowl and mashing them well with a fork. I placed them back in the pot, along with a cup and a half of cream, and stirred it. Within a few minutes, the mashed potatoes and cream had thickened the soup. I added salt and freshly ground black pepper and ladled a bowl up for myself.

I found a loaf of French bread in the breadbox and cut myself some to eat with the soup. It was a very good, comforting soup. The taste was familiar, but no memories leapt forth as I ate it. That was a bit disappointing, as Aunt Jenna had told me that the simple soup was my favorite of the ones my mother had made over the years. As I finished the last bite, there was a loud, heavy _thump_ from upstairs that made me jump in surprise.

As Damon came walking down the stairs, buttoning the cuffs on his shirt, I looked around him for Vicky. "Uh, Damon, not trying to be Debbie Downer here or anything, but what did you do with my brother's girlfriend?"

"Oh, you mean Poor Miss Pitiful Me?" he asked. I nodded and he scoffed. "Yeah, her, she's dead." He said, and reached over to take a bite out of my piece of buttered bread.


	16. Transitioning

"Oh...Wait. You killed her!?" I gaped at him. He grinned and bit into the bread again, chewing as he took my spoon and dipped it into the pot to try a bit. "Hey, this is really good!" he said, taking another spoonful.

"Damon!" I sighed and facepalmed. He looked up at me in confusion. "What am I supposed to tell Jeremy? 'Sorry, bro, but my friend kinda drank your girlfriend's blood, fed her some of his, then he killed her. Sorry?' I'm pretty sure that's going to get me locked in the loony bin, thank you very much, and the Sheriff out here asking questions. And I'm pretty sure you don't want that!"

"Relax. I've got this. In fact, she should be waking up any minute now," he said, taking my hand and leading me upstairs. He played with the light coming from the windows for a few minutes, letting it burn the tips of his fingers, and making me giggle. "Stop that," I said, taking his hand in mine without thinking, and kissing the reddened fingertips, like I would have for Jeremy or for the young children I babysat for at times when they had an "owie". Damon blinked at me in surprise, and shook his head as if he just couldn't figure me out. Then, I gasped, as true to Damon's word, a few minutes later, Vicky awoke.

"What happened? We were dancing, and then... " she asked, seeming rather out of it. I'm pretty sure death would do that to you. Not to mention all the alcohol and probably drugs that were in her system. I wasn't dissing the girl, but I know that she and Jeremy had taken some of my pills in the past. I'm sure she found something to abuse between my pills, Elena's, and Jenna's.

"Then I killed you," Damon supplied. _Wow, Damon. Way to help her keep calm_ , I thought sarcastically.

"What?" Vicky asked, and you could hear the fear creep into her voice.

"You're dead," Damon explained.

"I'm dead?" Vicky was definitely starting to freak out now.

Damon sat on the edge of a desk and watched her. "Yeah, well, let's not make a big deal out of it. You drank my blood, I killed you, and now you have to feed in order to complete the process," he answered, emotionlessly.

Vicky scoffed. "You're wasted."

Damon ignored her, "You don't wanna be out there all alone. You're about to get really freaky." I bit my lip. Freaky was probably understating this quite a bit. I almost spoke up, but I didn't want Damon to get angry with me, and I'd told him that he could feed off who he needed to. I just hadn't imagined it would be someone I knew personally, and I sure as hell didn't think he'd be creating a new vampire out of her. I could feel my heart thudding in my chest.

Vicky grabbed her jeans and started to walk away from us. "Ok, I had a really good time. I just wanna go home."

Damon continued his warning. "You're gonna start craving blood, and until you get it, you're gonna feel very out of it. You have to be careful." I felt my eyes widen, and I instinctively moved closer to Damon. I noticed his eyes flick to me before returning to Vicky.

Vicky pushed hard against Damon's shoulder as she went past him. "Come on, move," she demanded.

"See? you're already starting to fall apart," Damon said.

"And I'm going home now," Vicky said, sounding just a little bit bitchy.

Damon just shrugged. "Ok, fine. I'm just warning you. Actually, you know what? You should go. In fact, if I were you, I would stop by your boyfriend Jeremy's house."

My head jerked up at that. "What?!"

"Yeah, whatever," Vicky said, walking out the door.

Damon leaned against the door frame. "Bye. Tell Elena I said hi and if you see Stefan, tell him to call me!" he called after her.

I started to chase after her, but Damon grabbed me around the waist and stopped me. "No! You're not going anywhere," he said.

"Damon, stop, put me down! You just sent a transitioning vampire after my baby brother!" I said, wiggling and squirming in his grasp, desperately trying to get free.

Suddenly he was in front of me, staring into my eyes, dammit, he was using his mind compulsion on me! "Relax! Clara, relax! Elena and Stefan will be back at your house soon, then we'll head over. So relax!" he said with a smirk. My body stopped fighting him and I instantly felt calmer. He led me back to the kitchen sat me on a stool, and I watched as he packed away the leftover soup before cleaning the pot, bowl and spoon I used and putting everything away. "I would have done that," I said softly.

He grinned. "I know. Now, let's hit the road, Sunshine!" he said, grabbing my wrist as he walked past me, the sun setting behind the trees as he picked up his keys from a table beside the door and opened the front door. We got into his beautiful baby blue Camaro and he started the car.

* * *

It wasn't long before we arrived at my house. He started up the stairs and I held back a bit.

Damon rang the doorbell and Elena opened the door. I saw the fear on her face as she tried to shove the door closed, but Damon pushed it back open and kept her from shutting it again by leaning against the frame. I sighed and followed, Elena was rather shocked to see me with Damon. She turned to Jeremy and told him to go upstairs, her voice harsh. While normally he would have resisted, I nodded at him and he nodded back and headed upstairs.

Damon smirked. "You're afraid of me. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and guess. Stefan finally 'fessed up."

Elena grabbed my hand and pulled me to her. "Stay away from me. And stay away from my sister!"

"Hey, there's no need to be rude. I'm just looking for Stefan," Damon said, then grinned. "May I come in? Oh, wait. Of course I can. I've been invited.," he said, stepping inside and shutting the door. " We can cut to the chase if you want. I'm not gonna kill you right now. That wouldn't serve my greater agenda. So...Where's Stefan?"

Elena grimaced. "He's out looking for Vicki."

"Don't look at me with those judgey little eyes. Girl's gonna thank me for what I did to her," Damon asserted, moving closer to Elena, trying to intimidate her. While the intimidation didn't show on her face, her hand clenched tighter around mine and I could feel it tremble.

"Did you thank Katherine?" Elena asked bitterly.

"Mmm. Got the whole life story, huh?" Damon asked, but I could see emotion glittering in his eyes, behind the mask he put up to the world. It was hard for me to hold myself back from moving to hold his hand to make him feel better. But I knew it would just cause trouble between Elena and Damon and myself.

"I got enough."

Damon smirked as he said, "Oh, I doubt that. Tell my brother I'm looking for him." he said, as he walked out the door. Just before the door fully shut, he turned back and told Elena, "Oh, tip for later, be careful who you invite in the house."

Elena let out a long breath of air before yanking me into her arms and hugging me tight. "Oh my god, Clara! I've been so worried! How did you end up with Damon?!" she asked.

I grasped about for an idea quickly, before I slid my hand into my pocket and speed-dialed Damon's number so he could hear what I told Elena to keep him appraised of what the story would be. I pretended not to know what had happened. "I'm not sure. I kind of woke up at the boarding house. Damon was there, drinking a glass of bourbon. Vicky was passed out on the couch. There was so much blood... He..he fed her his blood, and she woke up. She went and took a shower. I picked out a book to read while they were dancing around. Next thing I know, there's this great loud thump and I run upstairs. Vicky was on the floor with her neck snapped, and I freaked out. I think Damon must have done something because next thing I know, I was sitting on the edge of a bed, my anxiety gone, and Vicky was waking up." I told her. I clicked my phone off, hoping Damon had heard it all.

"Is it okay if I go upstairs and get a bath and some rest? I feel exhausted and sleepy," I asked.

She nodded and I headed upstairs, by the time I reached the landing, my legs were killing me. I was so glad to see the doomstick when I got to my room, having forgotten it earlier that day. I started to use it to lean on as I turned on the bathtub. I ran the water as hot as I could stand it, poured in some white jasmine and lavender scented bath salts, retrieved a clean night gown from my pajama drawer and then stripped down. I lowered myself gingerly into the hot water, hissing and blowing out breath as the hot water engulfed me. Finally, I was all the way in and relaxed back against the tub. I turned on the jets and relaxed into the soothing fluid.

* * *

 

I'm not sure how long I laid in the tub, but the water was almost chilled by the time I pulled myself from the tub. I braided my wet hair back after toweling it almost dry and brushing it out. I walked into my room and turned on my light, gasping when I saw Damon sprawled across my bed, reading something from the bookshelf.

"Hi. Certainly wasn't expecting to see you again tonight," I said, sitting at my vanity and removing my jewelry.

I gasped when he appeared behind me. "Someone shot Stefan tonight. Wooden bullets. The Founders council knows vampires are back." he said. "Oh my god! Is he okay? What about Vicky?" I asked. Damon nodded, but there was anger in his eyes. Someone had dared to hurt his brother, and as much as he proclaimed to hate him, I knew that a lot of that hatred was pain and anger. Katherine had really screwed them both up. "Vicky drank from the dick who shot Stefan. She's back at the boarding house. Stefan's going to make her a good little bunny-eater. Good luck, with that drug-addict personality," he smirked and pulled the elastic from around my braid.

"Hey, I just put that up!" I said softly, slightly annoyed. He just smirked and undid the braid, taking my brush from the vanity and began to brush my hair in long, soothing strokes. I blushed and closed my eyes, sighing as the tension from the day began to seep from my temples and behind my eyes. I felt him kiss the top of my head. "Looks much better down, little Gilbert. Come on, time for bed," he said and laughed when he pulled me up into his arms and I gasped and grabbed his shoulder. "Allow your knight in shiny tinfoil to help you to bed, my lady," he said with a wiggle of his eyebrows and a grin.

He laid me in the bed, pulling the blankets back and covering me. Just as he turned to walk away, I grabbed his leather-jacket-covered arm. "Stay for a while?" I asked softly. He seemed to think it over for a moment before pulling off his jacket and toeing off his shoes. He climbed back into the bed and I grinned as I cuddled up against him. "You're pretty comfortable, ya know?" I asked. He laughed and it was a glorious sound and made me smile in return.

"Here," I said, handing him the book he'd been reading. I wasn't really surprised when I saw it was Gone with the Wind. "Read to me?" I asked. He peeked down at me where my head rested half-way on his arm and half on his chest before nodding and opening the book. I closed my eyes as he began to read:

"Scarlett O'Hara was not beautiful, but men seldom realized it when caught by her charm as the Tarleton twins were. In her face were too sharply blended the delicate features of her mother, a Coast aristocrat of French descent, and the heavy ones of her florid Irish father. But it was an arresting face, pointed of chin, square of jaw. Her eyes were pale green without a touch of hazel, starred with bristly black lashes and slightly tilted at the ends. Above them, her thick black brows slanted upward, cutting a startling oblique line in her magnolia-white skin — that skin so prized by Southern women and so carefully guarded with bonnets, veils and mittens against hot Georgia suns.

Seated with Stuart and Brent Tarleton in the cool shade of the porch of Tara, her father's plantation, that bright April afternoon of 1861, she made a pretty picture. Her new green flowered-muslin dress spread its twelve yards of billowing material over her hoops and exactly matched the flat-heeled green morocco slippers her father had recently brought her from Atlanta. The dress set off to perfection the seventeen-inch waist, the smallest in three counties, and the tightly fitting basque showed breasts well matured for her sixteen years. But for all the modesty of her spreading skirts, the demureness of hair netted smoothly into a chignon and the quietness of small white hands folded in her lap, her true self was poorly concealed. The green eyes in the carefully sweet face were turbulent, willful, lusty with life, distinctly at variance with her decorous demeanor. Her manners had been imposed upon her by her mother's gentle admonitions and the sterner discipline of her mammy; her eyes were her own..."

As he read, I slipped into dreams once more, and soon, I felt Damon kiss my forehead with a barely audible "good night, little Gilbert". As soon as he was gone, the dreams took me deeper.

* * *

 

_I stood on a balcony, overlooking a light-filled city. I felt him behind me, and sighed in pleasure as he wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me back against him. He was already hard, grinding his length against my ass. "Have you ever done it before, leaning over a balcony, where anyone could see you? Where anyone could hear you?" I shuddered and shook my head no._

_"What about with two lovers at once?" another voice asked, as a large, warm hand slowly brought the silk skirt of my gown up to my thighs._

_"N..no!" I gasped out, moaning as the hand of voice number two began to slide his thumb over my clit, making me nearly drop to the floor. I would have if not for the restricting arms of the owner of voice number 1. One of the arms then moved, and was pulling the zipper of my gown down, releasing my breasts as it slid to my waist. "What a magnificent view," Voice number 1 whispered into my ear, and I knew he wasn't talking about the city beyond the balcony. Then his hands moved to cup my breasts, squeezing them and rolling my now-pebbled nipples in his fingertips. He began to kiss along the side of my throat and along my shoulder, pulling my head back to kiss into the valley between my breasts._

_Meanwhile, the owner of voice number two, was rubbing his hands along my thighs and down my legs to my ankles, up and down, up and down, as he buried his face against my stomach, before grasping my panties with his teeth and pulling them to my ankles. "Hold her tightly, brother. We're going to show her the stars," he said softly. There was an answering hum from the voice of the man holding me upright._

_Quick as a thought, the second man (vampire?) had used his thumbs to open my slit and had leaned in, lapping his tongue against my clit. I gasped at first before pleasure took over and I knew nothing more than whining, whimpering and moaning out my pleasure. I came again and again on his hot, talented tongue, until I was a sweating, shuddering mess._

_"My turn, now, brother. Don't be greedy," came the deep voice from behind me. He bent me over the thick metal balcony railing. I heard a zipper opening and then heat, long, thick and hard, pressed against my ass. He pressed kisses along my ear, and I could finally see his eyes, deep brown and filled with desire. "My beauty," he said and kissed me, just as he thrust forward, spearing me on his cock. I cried out in pleasure and surprise as he continued to push forward, burying himself as deep as possible. I gripped the rail as he started to thrust, moaning and crying out with each aching thrust of his manhood._

_As his thrusting became harder, and deeper, blue eyes appeared before me, kneeling before me. "Oh brother, she is so sweet and so ready. Pound her hard while I make her come on your cock!" he ordered. There was a rumbling growl behind me before the thrusting became almost agonizingly pleasurable, and then another element was added when the owner of the blue eyes began to lick and suck at my clit as he had done before. Within moments I was screaming out my pleasure, shuddering as the owner of the brown eyes cried out my name, his eyes clenched shut at he thrust one last time, emptying his seed into my body with his tip pressed tight against the entrance to my womb. He pulled my face back and began to kiss me, picking me up and carrying me to an extravagant bed in the middle of the room. The blue-eyed man (vampire?) joined us on the bed, all of us finally nude, but covered strategically from the cool air from the balcony by bronze satin sheets. He began to run his fingers through my hair, as the brown eyed man pressed soft kisses against my temple._

* * *

 

I sighed in contentment as the dream disintegrated, and then I blinked my eyes open to the bright sunlight of a new morning.


	17. Feelin' Sketchy

The next morning seemed to be a bit of a nightmare. Jeremy and Elena had fought, which I only caught the end of as Jeremy darted out of the bathroom to leave.

"You're up early. Where are you going?" Elena had asked him.

Jeremy'd shrugged, "Police station. They're organizing the search party for Vicky, so... "

"Wait. Shouldn't you be going to school?" Elena had asked. Wow, she REALLY wanted him to keep away from Vicky.

Jeremy had glared at Elena. "What? You're kidding me, right?"

Elena persisted, "You shouldn't skip school. If they find her, we'll know. That's what cellphones are for."

Jeremy practically growled. "Yeah, your lips keep movin'. I don't know why," he said.

He saw me standing in the hallway, kissed the top of my head as he passed by and then was down the stairs and out the door. I turned to Elena. "What just happened?" I asked.

"He's so obsessed with Vicky. I'm trying to keep him from getting hurt. She's a vampire, Clara!"

"Yeah, she's a vampire, Elena. So is Damon," she huffed as if that proved whatever her point was, but I continued, trying not to roll my eyes, "and so is Stefan. I trust them both with my life, Elena. Believe it or not, Vicky does care about Jeremy. As much as you hate it, she's the one that has helped him get through Mom and Dad passing. She is an important part of his life. He's not going to abandon her," I said.

But Elena was being stubborn and just shook her head. I sighed and got dressed for school, throwing on my favorite "I'm Geeky and I know it" shirt, along with comfortable jeans ("I will never wear skinny jeans" had become my mantra after trying to get into a pair of pre-Coma me's skinny jeans. They were the most uncomfortable things I'd ever worn in my life.), and comfortable running shoes. I pulled my hair, which had decided to come out curly this morning, back into a ponytail. I skipped all makeup except for tinted lip balm. I grabbed the doomstick and headed downstairs and waved to Elena.

"Where are you going?" she shouted after me.

"Gonna go see Stefan, see what's going on!" I shouted back, slinging my backpack over my shoulder and wandering towards the Boarding House, the doomstick making it's clicking noise every other step I took.

* * *

I knocked on the door and Damon answered, smiling brightly when he saw me. "Little Gilbert! Finally, someone FUN around here!" he said loudly as he faced towards Stefan further down the hallway, which made me giggle.

"Morning, Damon," I said, and he offered his arm to me. I stepped forward and took it and he led me into the parlor. Stefan smiled when he saw me, but I could see how tired and strained he was. I stepped forward and hugged him, which he eagerly returned. "Morning, Steffie!" I said with a smile.

"Hey, where's my hug?" Damon said, with puppy dog eyes. I rolled my eyes and giggled, jumping over to him and wrapping my arms around him. I looked up and could see him smirking at Stefan.

"Feel better now?" I asked, grinning up at him.

"Much," he said, and I let go. He wandered over to the table of alchol decanters and poured himself some bourbon. Suddenly Vicky appeared in the doorway. I smiled at her.

"Hi, Vicky!"

She tried to smile back, but it was more of a grimace. We all wandered into Stefan's room, I sat on a chair by Stefan, Damon sat at the desk and picked up a newspaper to read through. Vicky laid back on a couch. She turned to the boys. "I don't understand why I have to stay cooped up here. Why can't I just go home?"

"Because you're changing, Vicky, and it's not something you wanna do alone," Stefan told her.

"There's nothin' about that Logan guy I killed in here. Not a word. Someone's covering it up," Damon said, sounding frustrated, as he flipped through the newspaper pages, his fingers making a clicking noise as they brushed against a metal object in his hands..

"What is that?" Vicky asked.

"This is a very special, very old compass. What was Logan Fell doing with it? Aren't you curious?" Damon asked Stefan.

"Well, if you're so worried that somebody's onto you, why don't you just leave town, Damon?" Stefan asked with a smirk.

"We should all be worried," Damon corrected.

"Hey, um, I'm hungry. Do you have anything to eat?" Vicky asked.

Stefan reached over and grabbed a cup from the table, handing it to Vicky. "Here."

"What is it?" she asked, looking into the cup and smelling it. I could already smell the coppery scent of the blood and was doing my best not to grimace.

"It's what you're craving," he told her.

Damon chuckled, "Heh. Don't lie to the girl. It's so not what you're craving, but it'll do in a pinch, right, Stef?"

"What is it?" Vicky asked again.

Damon smirked. "Yeah, what is it? Is it a skunk? Saint Bernard? Bambi?" he teased.

Stefan ignored his brother, telling Vicky simply, "Go on. Give it a try."

But Damon wasn't finished, his voice almost sing-song as he said, "She's new. She needs people blood. She can't sustain on that stuff."

"Yeah, why can't I have people blood?" Vicky asked, excited.

"Yeah," Damon said brightly.

"Because it's wrong to pray on innocent people, Vicky," Stefan explained.

Damon scoffed. "You don't have to kill to feed. Just find someone really tasty and then erase their memory after wards. It's so easy."

"No, no, no. There's no guarantee that you can control yourself, okay? It takes years to learn that. You could easily kill somebody, and then you have to carry that with you for the rest of your life, which, if I haven't made clear, is eternity," Stefan admonished both Damon and Vicky.

"Don't listen to him. He walks on a moral plane way out of our eye line. I say snatch, eat, erase," Damon huffed.

"Hey, look at me. We choose our own path. Our values and our actions, they define who we are," Stefan explained to Vicky.

Damon tossed the paper onto the desk and walked away. "Okay, count deepak. I am outta here."

"Can I have some more?" Vicky asked.

Damon stood up and headed downstairs. I thought I heard the doorbell ring, so I wandered downstairs just as Damon opened the door. I wasn't surprised when Elena was revealed.

"Is Stefan here?"

"Yep!" Damon answered.

"Where is he?" Elena asked.

"And good morning to you, little miss " I'm on a mission"." Damon said with his usual smirk.

Elena's tone was frigid. "How can you be so arrogant and glib after everything that you've done?"

Everything about Damon seemed to darken for an instant. "And how can you be so brave and stupid to call a vampire arrogant and glib?"

Elena's hand was trembling, I could see, but she held her own, looking Damon straight in the eyes. "If you wanted me dead, I'd be dead."

Damon smirked. "Yes, you would."

"But I'm not," she said.

"Yet," he replied.

I could practically see Elena grinding her teeth as she asked again, "Where is Stefan?"

Damon sighed and rolled his eyes, opening the door. "He's upstairs singing "The rain in Spain". Knock yourself out."

Damon walked past Elena and she walked into the hallway. I waved at her as she saw me. For some reason, she still felt the need to call out for Stefan.

"Stefan? Stefan?" she called. And of course, within seconds there was an answer.

"Yes," said the man in question.

Elena reached out and grabbed my hands, taking solace in my presence. "Where is Vicky?" she asked.

"She's upstairs," he spoke quietly.

"What happens now? Because my brother is out there searching for her with the rest of the town. What do I tell him?" Elena asked, trying to be quiet as well, but her voice wavered as her emotions leaked through.

"I'm working with her, but it's gonna take time. She's a very volatile and impulsive personality. She's a drug user. I mean, all that's gonna play a part in how she responds to this."

"Poor Vicky," I whispered, surprised when they both looked a me. I blushed and went quiet, hand still caught in Elena's trembling one.

Elena scoffed. "So, she's a vampire with issues? What am I supposed to do? Because I'm lying to everyone that I care about. What's gonna happen to her?"

Stefan's voice quieted even more to a whisper. "I'm gonna keep her here with me until I know that she's safe."

Vicky appeared on the stairs, glaring at us. "How long is that?"

"We can talk about that later," Stefan said, trying to smile.

Elena turned to Vicky, and tried to sound sympathetic, but pretty much failing. "How are you?"

Vicky stared at Elena, trying not to laugh. "How am I? You're kidding, right?" answered, and all I could do was wince.

* * *

A while later, we had moved to the dining room, and Stefan was explaining the wonders of caffeine in the vampire system. "Coffee is our friend. It's the caffeine. It circulates through our veins, and it warms our body so we're not so cold to the touch."

"Yeah, because otherwise you'd be a Cullen, minus the sparkles and gold eyes," I said, with a grin.

Vicky snickered at me, then turned back to Stefan. ""Well, what if I wanna drink human blood?"

"You're gonna have to learn to live with that urge and fight it on a daily basis one day at time," Stefan explained, his voice grave.

"Oh god! Don't start with that whole 12 steps thing. School counselor has been down that road, and it doesn't work for me," She said, laying her head down on the table. I couldn't stop myself and reached out, running my hands down her hair in a soothing manner. She turned her face to me and smiled. "Thanks, Clara," she whispered, before turning her head back down.

"It can work. It's your choice, Vicky," he said.

"So you've never tasted human blood?"

Stefan paused for a moment, as if lost in thought. I knew he was probably remembering all the people he had killed, and how much it weighed on his conscience. "Not in a long time."

"How long?" Vicky asked.

"Years and years. I'm not proud of my past behavior," Stefan said, after another pause.

"Does this sketchy feeling ever go away? It's like I have a massive hangover. This daylight thing is a bitch. I need more blood. Where's your bathroom? I have to pee. Why do I have to pee? I thought I was dead," Vicky complained.

Stefan pointed the way, and Vicky left quickly for the bathroom. "I'm going to, uh...I'm gonna get her some more. All right. I'll be quick," he said. We nodded.

I looked at Elena, "I'm going to grab some tea really quick. Would you like some?" I asked.

"Yeah, that'd be great," Elena said, with a sigh, running her fingers through her hair and lowering her head to the table for a moment. I stood and walked into the kitchen. Damon, figuring I would be here pretty often, had taken to leaving an electic kettle filled with hot water on for me. I put tea bags into two teacups, and poured hot water over them both. I placed them on their saucers, with tea spoons, and added the sugar holder and cream pitchr on the tea tray.

As I carried it back into the dining room, I gasped, as Vicky had Elena by the throat. I dropped the tray and hurried over. "Let's get one thing straight, you perky little bitch. You had my brother whipped for fifteen years. Fifteen years and then you dumped him. When I look at you that is all I see, just so you know. And I'm gonna see Jeremy whenever I wanna see Jeremy, because I have some fun new toys to play with, and I won't think twice about ripping your little head off. You got it?" She said, before dropping Elena.

* * *

Vicky just glared at me as she flounced off, but didn't attack, for which I was grateful. I turned to Elena, who was grasping her throat and coughing. "Are you okay?" I asked. She nodded, but continued coughing, just as Stefen returned. I looked to him and back to Elena. "What happened?" I asked.

So Elena told us about telling Vicky that she shouldn't be around Jeremy. That it was too dangerous. And then how Vicky had attacked her. "She threatened me."

"She's on edge. Imagine every sense in your body operating at super speed. I mean, she's uncomfortable in her own skin. And then when you throw in her other issues..." Stefan tried to explain.

"How long before it settles? Hours? Days? Weeks?"

"There's no rule book," Stefan told her.

"Well, how long before you learned to control it?" Elena asked.

"A while, But I didn't have anybody helping me. I had to do it on my own. The thing is it's hard to resist certain people especially when you're new, it's difficult to separate your feelings. Love, lust, anger, desire...it can all blur into one urge, hunger," he said.

"What does that mean?" Elena asked.

"It means that Jeremy can't see her, not now. She might not be able to resist him, and she could hurt him," he explained. I winced. That wasn't good, for either Vicky or Jeremy.

"Or worse," Elena said.

"I'm not gonna let anybody get hurt," Stefan assured her.

"I need to get going. Actually, Clara and I both do," she said.

"Elena... " Stefan begged, trying to get her to reconsider, to stay.

"Please Stefan. There's only so much I can take," She said, standing to leave, and grabbing my hand, dragging me along with her. I sighed and waved at him as we left.

* * *

We returned home just as Jeremy was leaving another message for Vicky. "You gotta call me, Vic. I don't get it. What's going on with you? Just...just call me please." My heart broke at my brother's pain. I bit my lip as I watched him from the doorway, as Elena made her way over to him.

"Hey. So, um, do you wanna hang out tonight? We could go to the, uh, Halloween thing at school. Could be fun!" Elena asked, trying to cheer him up a bit. I smiled and nodded.

"Cool. Sure. Sounds uh...sounds fun. Can't wait," he said, his tone rather despondent. As I walked by, I reached out and grabbed his hand. He smiled at me. Elena turned to him.

"I know you're upset about Vicky. I heard she called Matt. But you can't be with her. She needs to get better. The best thing you can do for her is let her go." she told him. I almost facepalmed. This was exactly what I'd told her not to do. He a rebellious teenager, he was going to do whatever he wanted, and damn the consequences. And telling him NOT to do something, was like giving him a ticking time bomb.

"What does that even mean, "let her go"? Oh, okay, sure. Since we're such experts on letting people go, right?" he said, and I winced. I'd forgotten that while I'd been in a coma, these two had been grieving together and yet completely apart.

"I know you may not see it, but trust me Jer. It's for the best," Elena said.

"Look, for months after mom and dad died, I felt like crap, like "nothing really even mattered" crap. Now all of a sudden, I get these moments and things started to feel just a little bit better, and Vicki was in every single of 'em. So you may not see it, but trust me. Keeping me away from her is not for the best," he replied and stomped off upstairs.

"Dammit, Elena!" I said, exasperated. "You just went and did the one thing I told you not to do!" I shook my head sadly at her, seeing her stricken look. "You've just made Vicky into a prize, and turned Jeremy into someone willing to do anything to get that prize." I shook my head again and headed upstairs to find something to wear as a Halloween costume.


	18. Wouldn't miss it for the world!

Elena, Jeremy and I arrived at the school as darkness fell. It was clear that Caroline had done a stunning job on the Halloween theme, the school looked spooky as hell. I laughed when Jeremy, dressed normally, but with the hood of his hooded sweatshirt pulled over his face, jumped and scared some kids. Elena smacked him lightly, but she was laughing as well.

As we walked, Matt showed up, dressed in a bloody doctor's scrubs, matching Elena's bloody nursing uniform, both from the year before.

"You went with last year's costume too, huh?" he asked, smiling at her.

Elena shrugged and nodded, "Yeah. I didn't know that I was coming till an hour ago."

Matt nodded in understanding. "Me neither." He turned to me and his eyes went wide, "Wow, Clara, look at you!" he said, and I couldn't help but blush and smile back at him. "Thanks, Teddy." I said, as I brushed a hand down my long white skirt. Pre-Coma me must have loved Halloween as much as I do, because this costume was stuck in the closet with a big "Halloween!" sticker on it.

Pre-Coma me had decided, apparently, to go as Athena, and I have to admit that Post-Coma me loved it as much as Pre-Coma me must have. The outfit consisted of a gold-colored collar around my neck done in the shape of an owl with outspread wings. The wings and body of the bird stretched from my throat all the way over my breasts, the ends of the wings clipping behind my neck. Under the collar, ivory-colored satin created a long, shift-like dress, attached at the shoulders with gold clasps, another long panel of the satin creating a cape that flowed from my shoulders to the ground. Just under my bust, and again at my hips, small golden chains were wrapped to give the dress dimension. The dress had slashes on both sides from mid-thigh to ankle, making movement easier. Gold-colored, knee-high gladiator sandals, a spear tipped in gold (that I was using to help me walk instead of carting around it AND the doomstick!), and a rolled-up scroll with golden ends and wrapped with a gold-tasseled cord finished the outfit.

I'd curled my hair into long ringlets, and I'd pulled them on top of my hair in a very loose bun, and through a headband/crown of golden olive branches woven together. Though the bun held the hair tightly on top of my head, some of my curls spilled down my back, others laid along the side of my face. My makeup was very light colored. Golden yellow shadow, thin black eyeliner, and mascara to make my eyes seem more open and wide. A peachy-pink blush on the apples of my cheeks. No lipstick, just a clear gloss. My ears help tiny teardrop shaped diamonds that dangled from little gold chains attached to small citrine studs. Three small gold stackable rings, the center one with a tiny owl on it, were on the middle finger of my left hand. On my right hand, I had a gold ring with a tiny citrine cabochon on my ring finger, and a small gold ring with an engraved floral pattern on my thumb.

I smiled as Matt shook his head again to clear it at the amount of effort that would have gone into a costume like that. Then he turned to Jeremy and his complete lack of effort. "And you're going as...you?" he asked Jeremy. Jeremy refused to answer, turning his back on the two of them and scowling. I stuck my tongue out at him and he reached over and tugged gently at one of my curls. "You do look pretty spectacular, Clara," he whispered to me, and I smiled back at him.

"He's not talking to me right now. We got into fight," Elena told Matt.

"Yeah, I got into it with Vic too, when she got home. I'm trying not to smother her tonight, but part of me didn't wanna let her out of my sight," Matt said, sounding upset.

"She's here?" Elena's voice raised in fear.

"Yeah, you can't miss her. She's a vampire."

I admit it, I couldn't resist a smirk at her sass. A vampire dressing as a stereotypical vampire. I loved it. I know Damon would have gotten a kick out of it. Suddenly Elena's stressed out voice caught my attention again.

"Where did Jeremy go?"

"Elena what's the matter?" Matt asked.

"I..I've gotta find him. We've gotta find him. Come on, Clara!" she called to me. I nodded and hurried after her as quick as I could while using the help of the spear-now-secondary-doomstick.

As I wandered the halls, I thought heard something rather loud as I walked toward the doors leading to the bus parking area. I opened the door just as Jeremy and Vicky were making out, but then I heard Jeremy start to panic.

"Okay. Yeah. Ow. You're taking that costume a little too far. What? What is it? Vicky! Vicky, what the hell?! Oh, my god. No! stop! Vicky! No! Ah!"

"Jeremy!" I cried out, running towards him, Elena right behind me, screaming at Vicky. "Vicky, no!"

As we reached the two of them, Elena had stopped to pick up a plank and hit Vicky with it, and I grabbed Jeremy away from her. Then Vicky grabbed the collar of Elena's dress and threw her into a pile of garbage. I winced and cried out Elena's name, as I heard a snap of wood. Suddenly Stefan was there, holding Vicky against the bus.

"Vicky!" Jeremy yelled, just as Vicki managed to push Stefan away and disappeared.

"Go. get inside. Go!" Stefan commanded us, and Elena and I grabbed Jeremy and ran towards the semi-safety of the school building and a populated area.

As we reached the building, Elena tried to open the door, but Vicky appeared as quickly as I could blink, and tossed us all back, grabbing Elena and sinking her fangs into her shoulder. Elena screamed, and before I knew what I was doing, I was shoving a piece of my broken spear through Vicky's body. At the same time, Stefan stabbed her through her back.

Suddenly my ears went deaf, my eyes went blank as shock zipped through my body. The next thing I heard was Jeremy screaming for Vicky, and Stefan was holding Jeremy back from Vicky's grey, dessicated body.

Elena, holding her bleeding side, looked to Stefan, "Get him out of here!" she cried.

As Stefan walked away, helping Jeremy to the car, he took out his phone and made a call. I assumed he was speaking to Damon. As they walked away, Elena and I held hands and sunk down to the concrete of the parking lot. Elena looked over at me and we both started crying. We almost lost our little brother tonight! Then she sniffled. "You saved us, Clara," she said, which only made me cry harder. They were my family, I'd do anything to save them, but my heart, and my mind, were both a little broken by this, having to kill another being.

Suddenly Damon was there. "You should go. I got this," he said.

Elena stood and glared at Damon. "You did this. This is your fault!"

"You confuse me for someone with remorse," Damon said, letting his eyes go dead. Elena reached out, pushing him and then trying to slap him, but he grabbed her hand and stopped her. "None of this matters to me. None of it."

"People die around you. How could it not matter? It matters, and you know it," she said, and managed to hit him, this time.

Damon's entire face darkened. "You need to leave. Your wounds are bleeding and you need to leave," he said, his tone very angry.

Elena glared at him the entire time she walked away. She looked back at me, wondering why I wasn't following. "I'm going to help Damon clean up. I'll meet you back at the house," I said quietly, surprising both of them. She nodded, understanding my need to do something for the girl that I'd killed, even if she had been trying to kill us.

As Elena walked away, Damon turned to me. "You didn't have to do that, Little Gilbert. I can take care of this," he said.

I nodded, tears still dripping from my eyes. "I know," I sniffled. "But I killed her, Damon. I struck, before Stefan managed to. She was going to kill us, and I killed her. And it still feels so wrong," I said. "But I'll help you with the body, it's the least I can do for her." I said, wiping my tears away, leaving smudges on my cheeks.

Damon looked at me, that faraway look in his eyes, as if I were a great, strange puzzle. "You are so much stronger than anyone gives you credit for, Clara. Go sit in the car, It'll be easier for me to carry her myself." He said, and I nodded. I walked over to the Camaro and sat in the passenger side, buckling myself in. Within moments, the trunk slammed shut, making me shudder. Then Damon was in the driver's seat, flipping the ignition on, and turning on the heater, as a chill had begun.

"Damon?" I asked quietly.

"Yeah," he asked, turning to me, his eyes flicking to the road every few seconds.

"Jeremy hates me now," I said, and started crying again. I felt the car pull over, and heard Damon's seatbelt unbuckle.

"What are you talking about, Clara? That boy loves you. You're his favorite sister!"

"But I killed Vicky! He loves her. He's never going to forgive me!" I said, as I burst into tears. The next thing I knew, I was wrapped in warm, strong arms, enveloped in Damon's scent, my head on his shoulder. He rocked me gently, and shushed me quietly as I cried, his hand reaching up to loosen my bun, my curls falling down around my shoulders. He ran his hand through my hair, soothing me as I cried. After a while, the tears abated and I sniffled only once in a while. "You're pretty good at this comforting thing," I giggled.

I could feel his lips lifting into a smile. "Well how else am I supposed to get all the pretty girls? Nicholas Sparks was a godsend," he said with a little laugh. I chuckled and punched him gently in the arm.

"Thank you, Damon," I whispered. He hugged me a little tighter before letting me go.

"Anytime, Little Gilbert. But this never goes beyond us." he said, with a fake glare.

"Aye-aye, Captain!" I said, with a little salute. He grinned and started the car as I climbed back into my own seat.

* * *

As we pulled up to the house, we could hear what Elena and Stefan were saying.

"Stefan, please. I don't know how he'll ever get past this. I just want him to forget everything that happened," Elena was saying.

"If I did it, there's no guarantee that it would work...Because of who I am. Because of how I live. I don't have the ability to do it right," Stefan told her, a hint of sadness in his words.

"I can do it. If this is what you want...I'll do it," Damon said, as we walked up the stairs.

"It's what I want," Elena said.

"Wait a minute!" I said. "Elena, this is Jeremy. Taking away his memories, this...this isn't right. Besides after all we've learned about vampires, don't you think that it's better that he, that Jenna, even, knows? So that we can take precautions? So that we can be safe?"

"No," Elena said. "Jeremy is in there, nearly comatose, because of what happened with Vicky. He wasn't this bad even after Mom and Dad!" she said, choking back tears. "You don't remember how bad it was, because you weren't here!" she said.

I jerked in shock that she would use the fact that I had been in a coma against me like this. My mouth opened and shut a few times before I stopped and sat down on the porch swing, looking up at Damon and Stefan.

"What do you want him to know?" Damon asked Elena. I buried my face in my hands, struggling to hold back tears. I still felt that this was so, so wrong!

"I want you to tell him that Vicki left town and she's not coming back. That he shouldn't look for her or worry about her. He's gonna miss her, but he knows it's for the best," Elena said. Then she and Stefan sat down on the swing beside me. "Part of me wishes that I could forget, too...Forget meeting you, finding out what you are and everything that's happened since."

Stefan looks incredibly sad. "Is that what you want?"

" Yes, it is," Elena said, surprising me. But then she continued, "Because I don't want it to be like this. I don't wanna feel like this. But I can't. With everything that's happened...I can't lose the way I feel about you."

"It's done," Damon said, returning to the porch. Elena nodded and stood, walking hurriedly back into the house, to Jeremy. I sat on the swing beside Stefan, and reached out, grabbing Damon's hand and pulling him down on the other side of me.

"What about you, Little Gilbert? Do you wish you could forget too?" Damon asked.

"Are you kidding? Meeting you two has been one of the best things ever in my life! I couldn't ask for better friends. You accept my weird, quirky nature, the me that likes to hide as a wallflower, and the me that turns up the radio and sings loudly and off-key as she cooks. And I couldn't thank you both enough for it. You let me, who can't remember almost anything of her pre-coma life, just be me. You let me learn, or relearn sometimes, as I go. You don't push me by saying, "But you did it this way before!" or "But you've always liked this!" or "You would have done this before you had that stupid accident/Coma." You're letting me discover me all by myself. So no, I don't want to forget. I don't want to forget my fine, gentlemanly, insanely funny Steffie. Or my bad-ass, rebel without a cause, hilarious Damon." I said, leaning into each of their sides as I described them. They both leaned over and kissed me on top of the head. "I wouldn't miss this for the world,"I said softly, as I yawned.

* * *

I must have fallen asleep, because I woke up later in my bed, Jeremy snuggled into my side, his eyes still puffy with tears. I'm assuming it was Damon who removed the heavy metal collar around my neck, the gold chains from around my dress, and my sandals from my feet, leaving me in just the ivory satin dress. He pulled the olive-branch crown from my head and my curls were laid back on the pillow. I looked out the window, to see the moon high in the sky. I sighed and curled under the blankets, wrapping an arm around Jeremy, and letting sleep take me again.


End file.
